Twenty years after Frederique Constant first put two intertwined hearts on a dial, the Classics Ladies Automatic Double Heart Beat is back. The signature aperture, originally conceived in 1994 to expose the mechanical workings of the movement through the dial, moves to 6 o’clock for the first time, while a new La Joux-Perret caliber delivers 68 hours of power reserve and an open-worked mainplate that keeps the escapement clearly visible from the front. The caseback is sapphire, looking straight down onto vertical Côtes de Genève on the oscillating weight and automatic bridge.
The three new 36mm references each take a different direction with their dials. Malachite brings a deep, saturated green with lighter horizontal patterning running through it. Opal is harder to pin down: semi-translucent, it catches light and breaks it into shifting notes of blue, pink and pale green depending on the angle. The third option is aventurine glass, a midnight blue material with an origin story worth knowing. A 15th-century Venetian glassmaker accidentally dropped copper filings into a batch of molten glass, and what came out has been prized ever since for the way the copper shimmer plays against that intense blue depth. Frederique Constant pairs this version with a bezel set with 40 diamonds totaling 0.447 carats.
Every watch ships with two interchangeable straps: a seven-link polished steel bracelet and a color-matched alligator-embossed leather strap in green, burgundy or navy to suit each dial. The crown at 3 o’clock gets a black ceramic cabochon, a quiet finishing touch that ties the whole thing together well.
