# A Review of my FC World Timer FC-718WM4H6



## adamcb (Feb 27, 2015)

_[QUICK ASIDE: Every week, I am going to try to write a wrap-up of the watches I currently own. As I am often trading my watches, this will be a great way for me to remember all of the watches that have "come and gone" as well as share my thoughts with the forum. Hope you enjoy.]_

For a while, I wanted a world timer. And I wanted a "real" world timer. As Rdenney explains in his post here, there are several different types of world timers - ones where you can spin a dial or bezel and calculate time differences in your head, a GMT offset, a city dial that moves as part of the watch movement, and then other uber-complicated movements on watches with six-figure prices that can handle the obscure time zones around the world on 15-minute offset time zones.

I have plenty of GMT hand watches, so I was looking for a world timer with a city dial that moved on its own *as part of the movement*. Set it and forget it - and be able to read the time anywhere with a quick glance.

There are a couple of reasonably-priced fine watches that are doing this right now. One is the very nice Baume & Mercier Worldtimer. It's a beautiful watch and has a MSRP of around $7900. I like B&M - I have had several of them and currently have an old B&M chrono as one of my "everyday" watches. But I wanted to add a new watch line to my collection.

Enter the *Freddie C World Timer.* It shares a similar look to the B&M with the city bezel, sapphire back and only one crown, but the similarities end there.









The FC World Timer has a elegant look. Highly polished case with white and blue dial showcasing a world map with a lot of layering and dimension. The date dial at six o'clock has some nice guilloche work and seems to "float" on top of the other two moving dials with the city name and world times. The Frederique Constant nameplate also seems to be layered on top of the map. I know some have said that they don't like this look. I actually do - I love the building of the layers and shadowlines created.









The blued hands are elegantly shaped and seem to be the right length and weight to see the time at a glance but not obscure all of the other information on the dial. The hands do not have any lume - the only lume on the watch are the nine hour dots. This isn't a watch that is going to be legible in the middle of night.

Turn the watch over and you see the beauty of FC's in-house movement thru the sapphire back. For a watch that retails for $3995 (and is available for quite a bit less), the detail on the movement is impressive. Lots of blued screws, engravings and a gold-tone rotor all make this look like a much more expensive watch. Even the engraving around the backside bezel with the brand, manufacture and WR information is well-done. This isn't a watch trying to be something it is not. *This is just a very nice, well-priced Swiss watch.*









The blue alligator strap is nice. Not the finest gator strap I have felt, but definitely not the worst. The color is great, the white stitching gives a wearer "permission" to make this a dress watch that can bat second-duty as a sport watch, and the leather has a nice sheen. I am not a fan of tang buckles, so the less said here the better (it's a silver tang). I think the limited edition run of this watch did have a deployant strap, but mine does not.









Freddie C watch packaging for a watch at this price point is also pretty good. Nice wood box in printed/textured outer box with flap and foam liner. The instruction and warranty papers are housed in a small folio located in a compartment below the wood presentation box. Compared to Rolex packaging, this box is tops. Again, everything is presented a manner typical of a more expensive timepiece.









*ACCURACY*: My watch is running about +3 sec/day from its in-house FC-718 movement. That's fantastic for a non-COSC watch and one of the more accurate in my collection (of course except for my Grand Seiko Spring Drive&#8230. The advertised 42 hour power reserve is pretty accurate.

*CONCLUSION*: I'm very happy with this watch. It's one of my travel watches because of its function, as well as its comfort and applicability to about any situation - work or fun. It isn't ostentatious and is appropriate in almost any situation. I appreciate the fine attention to detail FC has presented here, at an impressive price. I appreciate that it's a dress watch that doesn't take itself too seriously. I appreciate the complexity of the movement in a watch that, for me, is fairly small at 42mm and 12.1 mm height. This is probably the best "best value" watch I have in my collection.

Adam


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## Nokie (Jul 4, 2011)

Nice review. The WT is handy if you travel and I too like the blued hands.


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## IanCognito (Aug 29, 2013)

Great review and I agree on all points.
Mine says 'hello'!


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## garf666 (Jan 8, 2015)

Gorgeous watch. very tempted by the Blue Face model but trying to avoid spending that much on a watch this year.


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## gtuck (Feb 3, 2012)

I looked at the Alpina version a couple years ago when they first came out. I don't know if they've updated the movement, but in the one I tried the 12 hour and 24 hour disk were permanently linked--so, if you wanted to, you couldn't adjust the 12 hour for DST and leave the 24 hour disk alone. Ultimately, I bought a Ball Trainmaster World Time where you can adjust the two independently.


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