| In 1994, Frédérique Constant developed its first Heart Beat watch. The purpose of the Heart Beat development was to show the mechanical nature of these Frédérique Constant watches. Heart Beat watches have an aperture at the position of the balance wheel to show that the movement of the watch is mechanical. Early in the 1990’s, automatic mechanical watches were slowly making their return to the market after the quartz crisis of the 1970-1980’s. Typically, the exterior of such mechanical watches looks similar to quartz watches except that the second hand moves continuously. On quartz watches, the second hand makes 60 steps per minute. At Frédérique Constant, we considered it important to better show the difference between mechanical and quartz watches. In a mechanical watch, the balance wheel beats 28’800 times per hour. The balance wheel rotates clockwise and counter clockwise on its axes
in a large ruby jewel. |
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Its rotation is controlled by the hairspring,
which constantly coils and uncoils, and can be seen through the open
eye of the Heart Beat watches. The Heart Beat has become the signature of the Frédérique Constant brand. In 1994, Frédérique Constant as a company was growing fast but still relatively small. Without an internal legal department and insufficient management attention, a beginner’s mistake was made. The Heart Beat feature should have been deposited as a design registration. Possibly a patent could have been secured.
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Instead, without any registration, after the first Frédérique Constant Heart Beat watches were introduced in the market, it only took one year before the first Heart Beat copies started to appear. Some competitors plainly copied the Heart Beat opening in their watches. Other competitors changed the shape of the Heart Beat opening but fundamentally still copied the Heart Beat feature.
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DEVELOPMENT OF THE
HEARBEAT WATCHES
1994 - 2008 read more >>
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