Romaric André, the founder of French design studio seconde/seconde/, established in 2019, is known for taking vintage watches and swapping the original hands with sometimes cartoonish substitutes that reflect, in some way, the actual timepiece. Even if unfamiliar with his work, you may recall a limited edition he did in 2021 with H. Moser & Cie. – the Endeavour Centre Seconds Concept X seconde/seconde/, which took the branding-free Moser dial and extended the idea, with thel hour hand replaced with a bright pink and purple-coloured pixelated hand in the shape of an old-fashioned dual-coloured eraser.

Frederique Constant is perhaps not a brand one might expect to formally partner with seconde/seconde/, but they have, with two new variants of the Slimline Moonphase Date Manufacture in ten stainless steel and one hundred steel and rose gold piece editions respectively.

The case in both cases is 42mm (thickness of 11.3mm) with steel or rose gold-plated crowns, and a water resistance of 30m.

For his first collaboration with Frederique Constant, André’s touch was to play with the hand-assembly part of watchmaking. The seconde/seconde/ Slimline Moonphase Date Manufacture has applied hour markers (either stainless steel or rose gold-plated) that appear to be haphazardly applied, and the script of the logo and the date indication look like they were hand-written directly onto the dial. If you look closely at the moonphase, the moon disc and stars look hand-drawn, as do the date numbers. The script, moon and stars were hand-written or hand-drawn by André. The hour and minute hands are metal-matched, and the hand on the moonphase is black oxide.

Through the open case back can be seen the automatic in-house FC-705 which beats at 28,800 VPH and has a power reserve of 38 hours. It has a gilded rotor and blued screws, with perlage on the base plate, and Côtes de Genève on the bridget. Printed on the sapphire is text by seconde/seconde: “How do we tell the world that manual-assembly is at the core of our Manufacture? We asked artist seconde/seconde/. He took it too far”.

The ten-piece limited edition with rose gold on the case and dial is available exclusively through Frederique Constant’s online boutique. The one-hundred-piece edition in stainless steel will be available through authorised dealers.

With both Slimlined Moonphase Date Manufacture seconde/seconde/ editions coming on alligator straps with a stainless-steel folding buckle, the RRP is 3,295 for both variants.

[Photo credit: Frederique Constant]

Categories: Limited Editions, Watch Profile, watches, Women's watches