Last month, Frederique Constant celebrated its continued partnership with the Riva Historical Society (which started in 2009), with the unveiling of two new limited edition Runabout watches, at the North Cove Marina, at Brookfield Place in Manhattan.

The Riva Historical Society is a non-profit organization that was founded by architect Piero Maria Gibellini along with the engineer Carlo Riva and a group of friends with the goal of preserving Riva boats (which date back to as early at the 1920s).

As part of this annual partnership, Frederique Constant annually promotes and commemorates the runabout boats with a nautical-inspired limited edition watch. The Runabout collection of watches, according to the manufacture, “fuse the best of classic Italian style with the latest technical innovation.”

Both versions of the Runabout watches come in a 43 mm diameter case made of either stainless steel or rose gold plated stainless steel. A sapphire crystal protects the dial side. The flag of the Riva Historical Society is etched onto the sapphire caseback. The steel model has a silvery white dial and the rose gold plated version has a brown dial, both with a guilloche decoration in the center and applied luminescent Arabic numeral hour markers. The outer chapter ring has a printed 0-60 scale from reading seconds/minutes. The hour and minute hands are lance-shaped and feature a luminescent treatment. A date window is visible at 6 o’clock. All functions are controlled by the stainless steel crown. Water-resistance is 30 meters.

The timepieces are powered by the 25 jewel FC-303 automatic caliber, which beats at 4Hz (28,800 vph) 25 jewels and has a 42-hour power reserve. Each piece is delivered in a gift box that includes a miniature wooden powerboat. Limited edition of 2,888 pieces. The price is $1550 in steel and $1850 is rose gold plated steel.

Frederique Constant celebrated the launch by giving boat rides, in the New York Harbor, in a hand-built wooden Destino Runabout boat. The boat was captained by the man who built the boat, Ole Nielsen. Definitely a cool experience, and a nice getaway from the usual day-to-day in New York, and a perfect setting to try out the new watch.