Based on diachronic data documenting the variation related to future temporal reference in French, this study sheds light on the contribution of panel study in the understanding of language change. This real-time study provides a follow-up of 12 speakers of Montreal French over a period of 24 years (1971 to 1995). The results show an increase in the use of the synthetic future, a tendency contrary to the one characterizing the community change in progress that rather suggests a decline of the synthetic forms. Still, the analysis of the linguistic constraints on variation shows that polarity, previously considered to be the main factor, continues to exert a powerful influence on the distribution of forms. The article concludes that the methodological approaches in apparent- and real-time should complement one another for the study of language variation and change.