The Frederique Constant x Time+Tide Highlife Moonphase Manufacture Onyx Moon
Right then, watch fam — settle in. As the year winds down and the festive chaos gears up, along comes a watch that feels like it’s swooped straight out of a perfectly timed dream sequence. Say hello to the Frederique Constant x Time+Tide Highlife Moonphase Manufacture ‘Onyx Moon’ — a name almost as dramatic as the watch itself.
This is Highlife, but not as we know it. It’s moodier, sleeker, and has more presence than Uncle Dave after three brandies on Christmas Eve.
A Dial That’s Basically a Night Sky Portal
Let’s start with the obvious: the dial. It’s not just black — it’s onyx. Actual stone. Deep, glossy, mysterious. The kind of black that makes you stare at your wrist like you’re solving the universe’s secrets.
No hour markers. No clutter. Just a clean, cosmic void with a beautifully executed moonphase parked at six o’clock — glowing like a tiny lunar spotlight. A pop of red text adds just enough attitude to stop this from being overly serious. It’s refined, but with a wink.
A Handful of Firsts (Four of them, actually)
This collab isn’t messing around — it brings four proper “firsts” to the Highlife family:
First stone dial in a Highlife
First Highlife with a manufacture moonphase movement
First marker-free Highlife dial
First five-link, Jubilee-style bracelet
It’s like the model decided it was time to glow up — and glow up it did.
Inside the Case: Proper Watchmaking
At the heart of this cosmic creature is the FC-716 manufacture calibre — automatic, dependable, and offering a solid chunk of power reserve. Flip it over and you’re treated to an exhibition caseback that gives you a front-row seat to the movement doing its thing. Mechanical ballet, if you will.
Credit - Time and Tide Watches
Wearability: Surprisingly Versatile for a Lunar Diva
Despite all the drama on the dial, the watch sits at a very friendly 39mm — that just-right sweet spot the Brits call “fits everyone, annoys no one.” Under 13mm thick, it slides under a cuff without complaint.
Plus, you get a Jubilee-style bracelet that wears like silk, along with quick-change straps — rubber for weekends, nubuck for date night, and the bracelet for when you want to feel like you’ve got your life together.
Water resistance? A handy 100 metres. Perfect for British weather, which, as we know, is less “forecast” and more “roulette”.
Final Thoughts
The Onyx Moon is limited to 100 pieces worldwide, making it one of those releases the community will be talking about long after they’re snapped up. It’s classy but modern, bold but tasteful, and manages to bring something genuinely different to the Highlife line without losing what makes the collection so charming in the first place.
It’s the kind of watch that gets better the longer you stare at it — which, given the dial, might be quite a while.
Price: £4,350, €4,895
Heres the release on Time and Tide.
Well done guys. Superb collab.
