Parmigiani Fleurier - On the Quest for Essentials
The Maison presents the world premiere of its Tonda PF GMT Rattrapante, in which horological complication meets simplicity and purism. Parmigiani Fleurier is rewriting watchmaking tradition on its quest for purism combined with innovation – as reflected in the Tonda PF GMT Rattrapante, a refined world-first combining discreet complexity with immediate user-friendliness.
This new model embodies the spirit of the brand, which renounces ostentation in order to focus on intelligent design, volumes and proportions, details driven to extremes, along with exclusivity and innovation. It epitomises a sartorial approach that speaks to a circle of connoisseurs and initiates with an established watchmaking culture. It is part of a long line of world premieres that have punctuated the brand’s history since 2003.
Knurled Bezel as a Strong Signature
Alongside the Tonda PF GMT Rattrapante, Parmigiani Fleurier presents four more sophisticated high-flying novelties: the Tonda PF Skeleton; the Tonda PF Flying Tourbillon; and on a sportier note, the Tonda GT Chronograph in Big Date and Annual Calendar versions. The common denominators are a knurled bezel, a discreet yet strong visual and identity signature ensuring the stylistic and iconic coherence of the collection, along with teardrop-shaped lugs that extend the case and the spacious and uncrowded dial accentuated by the Grain d’Orge guilloché pattern.
This understated creativity follows a particular direction: the quest for essentials, materialised last September with the introduction of the Tonda PF. The integration of a meticulously finished metal bracelet into the case; the dynamism of a design inspired by the golden ratio; as well as the presence of dials featuring refined minimalism: this wealth of visual detail celebrates beauty in all its horological facets.
“I feel we are living in a new era of watchmaking. Watch purists are seeking creativity and interesting innovations, in a way that we maybe only experienced in the ’70s. In just a few months since its launch, the Tonda PF has exceeded our highest expectations, and is affirming itself as a statement of unostentatious high horology. In 2022, we are excited to nourish the newly born collection with discipline and care, while respecting its core values. With a few but important creations, we are aiming to extend the pleasure for horophiles, pushing the boundaries of the GMT watch through a world premiere, and interpreting Parmigiani Fleurier’s pure style in the Skeleton and Tourbillon functions.”
- Guido Terreni, CEO Parmigiani Fleurier
Opposite to the Mainstream
Parmigiani Fleurier’s rapid adaptation to this new style vocabulary was made possible by a vertically integrated industrial structure enabling the brand to master the full range of high-end watchmaking expertise. This is reflected in the new timepieces introduced at Watches and Wonders, intended for devotees of the exceptional, for connoisseurs with no interest in mainstream products.
The language of Parmigiani Fleurier? Rare, meaningful, and imbued with rich cultural added value in terms of both form and content.
Tonda PF GMT Rattrapante
A World Premiere
The Tonda PF collection launched in September 2021 has redrawn the lines of watchmaking purism. At Watches and Wonders 2022, it is enriched by a timepiece equipped with a complication offered as a world premiere: the Tonda PF GMT Rattrapante. In keeping with the minimalist character of the collection, it features an innovative yet simple-to-use mechanism that preserves its understated nature.
This complication features two superimposed hour hands: one in rhodium-plated gold and the other in rose gold. Pressing the pusher at 8 o’clock causes the upper rhodium-plated gold hand dedicated to local time to jump one hour forward, thereby revealing the rose gold hand which displays time in the wearer’s place of residence, known as “home time”.
Once the second time zone information is no longer required, pressing the crown-integrated rose gold pushbutton repositions the rhodium-plated hand on top of the rose gold hand in the same manner as a split-seconds chronograph hand. This makes it an extremely user-friendly complication entirely in keeping with the brand spirit. The Tonda PF GMT Rattrapante, a watch for globetrotters who travel between time zones, and an instrument for connecting people across distances.
Instinctive Reading
This flyback function that is unique within the profession is achieved through the integration of a sophisticated mechanism. Operating this intuitive complication enables purists to free the dial surface from an additional time display when it is not necessary. This action reduces the amount of information down to the essentials, encourages instinctive reading and helps reveal the quality and care lavished on each and every detail.
The eye can then glide over the fine barleycorn guilloché pattern of the dial, featuring a subtle “Milano Blue” shade. It can be carried away by the refined visual effect of the guilloché work surrounded by the sandblasted minutes track. The angle taken by the light draws the gaze out from the centre towards the rim. Such light effects serve to highlight the interaction between the shiny and matt surfaces of the finely knurled single-piece platinum bezel.
“In watchmaking there is a permanent tension between aesthetic and technique, as if there are two separate worlds that must coexist. This is even reflected in the word used to describe the components conveying the design of a timepiece, the watch exterior elements collectively referred to in French as “habillage”, meaning “that which attires the movement”. To me, the way you develop a complication has incredible implications on the mood of the watch and hence on its design. The world-first Tonda PF GMT Rattrapante pushes the boundaries of watchmaking, reinventing one of the most coveted and useful functions and embodying Parmigiani Fleurier’s discreet, unostentatious spirit through uncompromising technical choices.”
- Guido Terreni, CEO Parmigiani Fleurier
Great Formal Simplicity, for Aesthetes
Just as a tailor works on the folds formed by the drape of a fabric, Parmigiani Fleurier uses its sartorial approach to watchmaking to endow the silhouette of the Tonda PF GMT Rattrapante with a distinctive structure.
The elegance of a quintessentially architectural collection is revealed and the defining lines symbolising this power start from the edge of the lugs on the steel case-middle, extending to the centre of the bracelet side-links in a barely perceptible dynamic.
This subtle underlying detail serves the role of a “secret signature” on this watch distinguished by impressive formal simplicity. A model that its creators have clearly designed to live in total symbiosis with the aesthete who adopts it.