Founded in Geneva in 1988 by Peter Stas and Aletta Bax, the brand has evolved as a Swiss watchmaker offering luxury timepieces. Over the years, the brand has launched several models and has a history worth remembering – the Heart Beat design in 1994, the first in-house movement in 2004, and a manufacturing unit opened in Plan-les-Ouates in 2006. The brand also expanded internationally after joining Japan’s Citizen Group in 2016 and launched several mechanical timepieces. The Runabout line was introduced in 2009 as a tribute to the wooden speedboats of the 1920s. In 2013, the collection entered into a partnership with Riva Historical Society, and the biennial limited-edition release supported the preservation of classic Riva runabouts. In 2026, the brand expanded its flagship as well as Runabout collections by introducing the next-generation Classic Worldtimer Manufacture at Watches and Wonders, and now with the new Classics Runabout Automatic GMT.

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The case is crafted from stainless steel and has a polished finish, measuring 42 mm in diameter, 12.85 mm in thickness, and a lug width of 21 mm. The top is secured with a sapphire crystal which has an anti-reflective coating, whereas the caseback is secured with a smoked sapphire crystal that displays the official Riva Historical Society logo and is individually engraved ‘One of 888’. The watch also features a polished crown positioned at 3 o’clock and offers water resistance up to 50 metres.

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The dial has two colour options, deep blue and teak-inspired brown. It features a vertically satin-brushed centre with a vertical design in resemblance to the teak planking found on the classic Riva boats. A combination of three concentric circles completes the dial, where a central 24-hour scale and an arrow-shaped GMT hand work together to display a second time zone. Apart from the hours, minutes, seconds, and the GMT function, the dial displays a date aperture at 6 o’clock. Applied Arabic numerals are present at 3, 9, and 12 o’clock, while the remaining hours feature applied indexes. The hour, minute, and GMT hands and hour markers are rhodium-plated and filled with beige Old Radium Super-LumiNova for visibility in low-light conditions.

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The watch is powered by an automatic Frederique Constant FC-350 calibre, based on the SW200-1 movement, and is fitted with an in-house GMT module. It operates at a frequency of 4 Hz or 28,800 vibrations per hour, features 26 jewels, and offers a power reserve of approximately 38 hours. The movement can be viewed from the smoked sapphire caseback that shows the bridges and oscillating weight, which are decorated with vertical Côtes de Genève.

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The brown dial model (Ref. FC-350RBR5B6) is paired with a brown leather strap closed by a folding buckle, whereas the blue dial model (Ref. FC-350RN5B6) is paired with a black rubber strap with matching stitching and a pin buckle.

The watches are presented next to a miniature replica of a classic Riva Runabout boat in a collector’s box. Each model is limited to 888 pieces and is priced at INR 2,29,400.

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Images: Frederique Constant

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