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Watches and Wonders 2024: Parmigiani Fleurier Updates Toric and Drops a Date

Parmigiani Fleurier launches the Tonda PF Micro-Rotor No Date, creating an even more minimalistic option within its Tonda PF Micro-Rotor series.

 

The new Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Micro-Rotor No Date.

The debut comes alongside a terrific new Toric collection that the watchmaker launched as its primary Watches and Wonders 2024 highlight. (We’ll have much more about the new Toric in a future post.) 

At Watches and Wonders 2024, Parmigiani Fleurier launched a new Toric collection, including a manual wind model (pictured) and a chronograph rattrapante (pictured below).
The new Parmigiani Fleurier Toric Chronograph Rattrapante

The Tonda PF Micro-Rotor No Date

In the full Parmigiani Fleurier collection since 2021, the initial Tonda PF Micro-Rotor watch displayed only minutes, hours and date on its signature, ultra-clean Grain d’Orge guilloche dial. 

The newest, cleaner dial echoes the existing date-free models within the Tonda PF Automatic series and the Tonda PF GMT Rattrapante collection, the latter of which was a highlight of the 2022 Watches and Wonders exhibit.

With this new iteration, the watchmaker strips the 40mm by 7.8mm watch of even its date display, leaving only the 18-karat gold, rhodium-plated skeletonized delta-shaped hands to offer the sole time display.

Parmigiani Fleurier retains the eye-catching guilloche dial pattern here, creating a specialized Golden Siena color.  The watchmaker describes the hue as “a shade with moiré effects directly inspired by the rich “sienna” palette, thus celebrating the subtle nuances and naturalness of the earth.”

Turn the watch over for a busier display. From the back, you’ll see the platinum oscillating weight as its powers the highly decorated PF703 automatic caliber.

Here more of the underlying movement plate can be viewed than is typical in other watches with micro-rotors. That’s because Parmigiani Fleurier watchmakers have created a specialized, slightly smaller rotor built with a unique shape.

Price: $25,300. 

Specifications: Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Micro-Rotor No Date

FUNCTIONS: Hours, minutes

MOVEMENT: PF703 – Automatic Manufacture movement with platinum 950 micro-rotor. Power reserve: 48 hours

Frequency: 21,600 Vph (3 Hz)
Jewels: 29
No. of components: 160
Overall diameter: 30.6 mm
Thickness : 3.07 mm
Decoration : Côtes de Genève, Perlage Oscillating weight: platinum 950 micro- rotor, Grain d’Orge guilloché

DIAL: Color: Golden Siena
Finishing: Grain d’Orge hand-guilloché Indices: hand-applied rhodium-plated appliques
Hands: 18-karat gold rhodium-plated, skeletonized delta-shaped

CASE: Polished and satin-finished stainless steel with platinum 950 with knurled bezel Diameter: 40mm
Thickness: 7.8mm, Crown: 4.3mm, screwed-in
Glass: ARunic anti-reflective sapphire. Case back: sapphire glass
Engraving on case back: serial number – “PARMIGIANI FLEURIER”
Water resistance: 100 meters.

BRACELET:

Polished and satin-finished stainless steel bracelet
Closure: stainless steel folding clasp

Price: $25,300.

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The Watches

2023 Favorites, Part IV 

At the end of the year it’s time to note our favorite 2023 debut watches. We continue our look at a few of our favorite timekeepers of the year. 

Franck Muller: Colorado Grand 

Each limited to thirty-four examples (to celebrate the 34th anniversary of the race), these new watches of the Franck Muller Colorado Grand limited edition expertly utilize the classic 45mm Vanguard tonneau-shaped case and dial as a canvas, creating dials inspired by automotive art and the technical details of vintage cars.

Notable is the silver perlage that graces each dial of the four-watch set. Set with bold hand-painted numerals, these dials recall vintage car dashboards. Four models are available, each with a colorful rendering of the numerals, crown-protector and minute track just inside the bezel. Three debuts are in steel-cases, one in titanium and the fourth cased in rose gold. Prices: $13,000 to $24,500.

 

 

William Henry: Legacy 

The U.S.-based knifemaker’s first foray into wristwatches features dials created from meteorite, fossilized mammoth tooth and other exotic materials. A particularly nice example is this limited-edition Legacy Dinosaur model with a dial crafted from dinosaur bone; an extraordinary fossil material that ranges from 100 to 200 million years old. Initially it has a similar appearance to rock, but after the painstaking process of crafting a precision dial, the beautiful hues and patterns are revealed.

Surrounding the ancient dial is a forged Damascus case built with 300 layers of stainless-steel alloys and etched to reveal the individual patterns. Each watch in the debut collection is powered by a Sellita SW 400 automatic movement and housed in grade 5 titanium that is water resistant to 100 meters. Prices start at $3,750. 

 

Louis Vuitton: Tambour

This year, Louis Vuitton updates Tambour with new finishes and a decidedly slimmer, sculpted case. The new collection is more luxurious overall and notably highlights an all-new in-house movement and a sleek integrated steel bracelet.

Two new steel watches launch the collection’s upgrade. One is a chic monochrome model with a silver grey dial and the second one sports a deep blue dial. Both are built to highlight the new unisex 40mm by 8.3mm case, its new caliber LFT023 and the new bracelet. A rose gold model and a two-tone gold and steel edition are also now available. Price: $18,500 or $52,500 (rose gold) or $26,500 (two-tone). 

 

MB&F: Horological Machine Nº11 Architect.

This house for your wrist features four titanium ‘rooms’ radiating from a sapphire-domed central flying tourbillon. The surprising new watch recalls the designs of mid-twentieth century biomorphic-style houses, with four symmetrical parabolic ‘rooms’ emanating from a central atrium. 

Each room houses a display, with one showing the time, the next showing the watch’s power reserve, a third indicating temperature and the fourth housing the winding crown. The wearer can choose which display is in direct eyesight when wearing the watch by rotating the entire housing, which will click into place as desired. Price: $200,000.

 

 

Nomos: Rose Gold Neomatik

In a year of terrific debuts by this Glashütte-based watchmaker, this rose gold designs stood out for its unusually luxurious dressing. The Tangente Rose Gold Neomatik is a limited edition 35mm model in honor of the 175th anniversary of watchmaking in Glashütte. Limited to 175 pieces worldwide, the new watch adds a sub-seconds dial and minute markers in rose gold to the original’s galvanically white silver-plated dial. And while the first Tangente series reveled in its manual-wind minimalism, the new model is powered  by the Nomos DUW 3001, a thin automatic movement adjusted to chronometer standards. Price: $11,100.

 

 

Parmigiani Fleurier: Tonda PF Sport Chronograph 

Parmigiani Fleurier replaced its Tonda GT collection with the Tonda PF Sport Chronograph and Tonda PF Sport Automatic, both more refined than its predecessor. We like the chronograph best here, as it combines the most attractive elements of the new Tonda PF collection (the knurled bezel, clean dials and revamped bracelets) with its 42mm by 12.9mm ‘panda’-styling. 

Inside, the watchmaker fits its stunning Caliber PF070, a superb high-frequency (5Hz – 36,000 vph) manufacture movement with an integrated column wheel chronograph and a vertical clutch. The COSC-certified Chronometer offers a power reserve of sixty-five hours.

Prices: $50,200 (chronograph in rose gold), $29,000 (chronograph in steel).

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The Watches

Behold the Parmigiani Fleurier L’Armoriale

Parmigiani Fleurier adds a stunning new one-of-a-kind pocket watch to its “Objets d’Art” collection.

The new timepiece, called L’Armoriale, features a minute repeater and chronograph pocket watch movement made by A. Golay Leresche & Fils in 1890. In 1985, Michel Parmigiani restored the movement and added a perpetual calendar and has now created the exceptional case and dial for the movement.

Within the 58.2mm white gold case Parmigiani’s artisans have placed the perpetual calendar and its moon phase display against an aventurine sky and hand-hammered moons, all on white gold.

The lunar display is itself set within a stunning brown engraving in the “mezzo vibrato” theme. Around the dial also note almond motifs present on the case and lugs. The counters are also white gold and engraved.

On the back of the watch, you’ll see an equally stunning hand engraved design. Inspired by a tiled floor at Mantua’s Palazzo Te, the polished and grand feu enameled white gold back revels in its translucent yellow, brown, and red pattern, all completed by master enameler Vanessa Lecci.

Even the chain is a piece of artisanal workmanship.

Made by master chain-maker Laurent Jolliet, the 18-karat white gold 300mm chain features thirty-five square links and thirty-three oval links are all entirely handcrafted, beveled and polished.

All connect to one oval link with an engraved Parmiginai Fleurier logo.

As a one-of-a-kind project, the L’Armoriale is priced upon request. 

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The Watches

Parmigiani Fleurier Expands Unisex Tonda PF Series  

Parmigiani Fleurier adds two new models to its award-winning Tonda PF Automatic 36mm collection, expanding the series with a two-tone gold and steel bracelet model as well as a rose gold version on an alligator strap.

One of two additions to the Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Automatic 36mm collection.

Both debuts extend the unisex collection, which in 2022 was awarded the Women’s Watch Prize at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève. 

Echoing the initial 40mm Tonda PF Micro-Rotor series, the 36mm models also feature stunning Grain d’Orge hand-guilloché dials but omit a date display and, with a traditional rotor powering the movement, are not quite as thin as the earlier 40mm debuts.

The 36mm two-tone debut, a first steel and gold mix within the Tonda PF collection,  features a rose gold bezel, crown and rose gold links within the steel bracelet.

The gold essentially brings extra attention to characteristics that Parmigiani Fleurier built into the contemporary Tonda PF design, namely the finely knurled bezel and the tapered bracelet.

Parmigiani Fleurier further emphasizes these architectural elements with a contrasting finish. Unlike the polished stainless steel links at the ends of the bracelet, the gold links are satin-finished. And note that as the line of gold and steel links nears the clasp, each link is slightly shorter than the previous link.

The gold-cased Tonda PF Automatic 36mm debut is more luxurious and dressier with its all-precious case, ruby-colored alligator strap and ruby red Grain d’Orge hand-guilloché dial decoration.

Both debuts feature a superb in-house PF770 automatic movement that boasts a sixty-hour power reserve and a skeletonized rotor fully visible from the watch’s clear sapphire back.

Prices: $26,200 (steel and rose gold case and bracelet), $40,400 (rose gold on an alligator strap).  

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On The Wrist

On The Wrist: Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Micro-Rotor Steel Slate 

When Parmigiani Fleurier debuted its first set of Tonda PF watches just a few years ago, the watchmaker called the then-new series sartorial, with a look inspired by fine clothing design.

Wearing one of the earliest models to emerge from the collection, the Tonda PF Micro-Rotor Steel Slate, gave me a new appreciation of that reference and a clearer idea of why the description so aptly applies.

The Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Micro-Rotor Steel Slate.

On the wrist the watch feels lighter than you might expect from a solid steel bracelet watch, especially one with a relatively weighty platinum bezel and a solid platinum micro-rotor. Both these flourishes of high-end watchmaking weighed more on my psyche than on my wrist.

Knowing that this rare and highly coveted element was built in to my (borrowed) timepiece conveyed a warm feeling of luxury. This is in part intended I presume, considering Parmigiani Fleurier rightfully humble brags about using platinum on and within the Tonda PF series.

Notes of the precious metal enhanced my enjoyment of the many details Parmigiani Fleurier builds into its watches. Wearing the Tonda PF Micro-Rotor for a week, I also enjoyed other built-in details, some sartorial and some technical, that added to the pleasure.

For instance, after staring at the slate-colored matte guilloché dial for some time I was delighted to realize that the date window perfectly matches the dial’s minute track. The longish hands, cut from real gold, are open-worked to nicely expose the slate dial.

The watch’s gently knurled platinum bezel reflects the ambient light and provides a distinctive yet subtle  – yes, sartorial – frame for the hands, date and dial.  

As the 40mm watch is only 7.8mm thick thanks to the space saving micro-rotor powering its automatic Caliber PF703, the Tonda PF Micro-Rotor Steel Slate slips easily under a long sleeve. (Note that even the newer, smaller (36mm) steel Tonda PF Automatic 36, at 8.6mm thick with a traditional full-size rotor, rests slightly higher on the wrist than this earlier example.)

Wearing the watch during a warm summer, I didn’t quite try out this particular attribute, but I’m confident that the Tonda PF Micro-Rotor Steel Slate would slide nicely under even a tight-fitting cuff. 

Parmigiani Fleurier updated the Tonda bracelet when introducing the new Tonda PF collection two years ago. Now wider near the bezel and narrower along the length, the bracelet is silky smooth and feels slimmer than it appears. It offers an eye-catching horizontal-satin-finished surface that perfectly echoes the upper surface of the lugs.

I enjoyed wearing the Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Micro-Rotor Steel Slate very much and would happily recommend it to any collector in search of a comfortable steel dress watch with loads of genuine luxury detail. Price: $22,900.

Specifications: Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Micro-Rotor Steel Slate

Movement: Automatic Caliber PF703 with platinum micro-rotor and 48-hour power reserve, 21,600 vph.

Case: 40mm by 7.8mm steel with platinum bezel, anti-reflective sapphire crystal and sapphire back. Water resistance to 100 meters. 

Dial: Slate grey Guilloché Grain d’orge, delta-shaped custom hands, rhodium plated applique markers. 

Bracelet: Steel with horizontal satin finish.

Price: $22,900. 

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