Frederique Constant‘s ongoing collaboration with legendary British automaker Austin-Healey revs up again with the release of the Vintage Rally Healey Automatic Small Seconds, a collection of three watches in three distinct colorways, two in steel and another in gold, all channeling the racing spirit of the marque’s legendary vintage sports cars.
The latest follow-ups to last year’s Vintage Rally Healey Automatic models, this year’s watches come in a 40-mm-diameter polished steel case, 11.15 mm in thickness — stylishly simple in its construction but concise in its execution, eschewing flairs in favor of clean lines and drawing inspiration from vintage styles. The steel models come with a dark blue or gray dial with matching straps, and the gold-colored steel model pairs a racing-green dial with a reddish brown strap.
On each model, a matte-finished dial greets you from under a sapphire crystal. The dial’s design is similar to those of previous Vintage Rally Healey timepieces by Frederique Constant, with an white minute ring on its outer edge and a chronograph-influenced configuration occupying the innermost sector. The latter features stylized, lume-filled, applied hour markers, a 9 o’clock subdial for running seconds (which is the element distinguishing these models from their 2020 predecessors with a central seconds hand), a 3 o’clock date window, and a pair of sword hands for the hour and minutes, also luminous-coated.
The movement inside the new Vintage Rally Healey models is the FC-345, an automatic caliber based upon the ETA 2895 that stores a 38-hour power reserve when fully wound. The Swiss-made caliber is protected behind a solid caseback engraved with a rendering of a Healey being driven at full throttle.
The Frederique Constant Vintage Rally Healey Automatic Small Seconds in the grey colorway will be limited to the U.S. market, with 888 editions, priced at $1,595. The gold-colored version and the steel edition with blue dial are not currently available in the U.S., but are priced comparably for the international market.
To learn more, visit Frederique Constant, here.
Hard to be driven at full throttle without a driver in the seat.