DonCorson
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3358
A visit to Parmigiani Fleurier
Michel Parmigiani is a watchmaker who grew up and worked in the Val de Travers. When the crisis in the Swiss watch industry came in the 1970's he decided to set out on his own as a watch and clock restorer. He made quite a name for himself restoring many important pieces including much in the Sandos collection in the horological museum Château des Monts in Le Locle. This was the initial connection between Parmigiani and the Sandos Foundation which is now the owner of Parmigiani Fleurier.
Parmigiani Fleurier is located in downtown Fleurier in a stately old home. The workshops are located just across the street. We will now head across the street to the restoration workshop.
Restoration and one of a kind pieces continues to be an important part of Parmigiani's work. On the day I visited they had recently finished the restoration of a magical snuff box. An interesting mechanical toy, the magical snuff box will answer your questions, and answer them correctly. In the little golden drawers are a collection of questions that you can ask the magician. Place the fired enamel question in the central drawer and push it closed and the magician will start waving his wand. When he has finally decided the answer to your question the tree lifts its branch just enough for you to read the answer in the window. Conceptually not that difficult to do, but there is a wound up mechanism including a music box. The piece was not working before restoration with one or more botched restorations earlier. Care was taken as in all cases to restore in the same style as the original, to keep things reversible and to make replaced pieces obvious.
Look at the quality of the goldsmithing on this piece.
When new parts need to be made for a restoration or for one-of-a-kind pieces they are made in the small machine shop next to the restoration atelier. This shop includes all the standard machines such as milling machines and lathes needed to make parts. It is equipped for making single parts, no CNC to be seen.
After visiting the restoring shop we visited the workshop where the Parmigiani watches are completed. The group Parmigiani includes Vaucher Manufacture which makes the Parmigiani movements and cases as well as Quadrance et Habillage making the dials. The movement parts themselves are made in further group companies including even the simple parts like the screws.
The Bugatti Atalante fly-back chronograph
The Pershing Chronographe
Setting hands on the movement
For some watches some part assembly is still needed. Here we see some parts lined up in preparation of their assembly.
Looking over shoulders as we move along reviels some interesting things. For example a movement with engraved white gold bridges being assembled. This is a very strong point of Parmigaini, special orders and one-of-a-kind pieces.
The last two workbenches in this room are dedicated to the high complications. Here we see a series of 3 minute repeaters in platinum cases with animal motives in the dial piercing.
Another, minute repeater in assembly in a platinum case with baguette diamonds on the bezel. The case is protected by a transparent film to prevent scratching. It is interesting to note that for this movement with the moon phase on the dial it was necessary to move the repetition mechanism to the bridge side of the movement.
I am sure that the question of sound quality of the repeaters will come up. These movements are made in the best traditional style. They do not include any of the newly fashionable methods of producing a louder tone such as welding the mounting block of the gongs to the crystal. As such these are not the loudest repeaters that I have ever heard. They are, however, among the most melodious. Is there a certain point where the volume of the gongs just makes the sound strident instead of melodious? A direct comparison would be needed to really determine that, but repeaters do not need to be loud to make a beautiful sound and tell you the time.
In the next building we find the dial manufacturer Quadrance & Habillage. They are equiped to do all the operations needed to make a dial in almost any material. From the indexes and appliques as we see here to the subdials, decoration and printing.
The indexes and appliques are never glued, all have tiny feet which are then riveted on the back of the dial as we see here. The feet are an integral part of the index and are made by milling the part out of material about 0.5mm too thick and then milling away the back to leave just the feet, tiny 0.2mm diameter wires protruding from the back.
While many of the operations are automated some can just not be done as well as by hand, such as here the circlage on an insert ring.
You are certainly wondering why the dearth of pictures from the dial manufacturing. Quadrance & Habillage is one of the few companies specialised in making small quantities of very special high quality dials. As such a large portion of their work is for 3rd parties. No pictures please 
We head back to the main building to take a closer look at some of the new models from Parmigiani.
The Bugatti Atalante fly-back chronograph dressed up in diamonds
The Bugatti Atalante fly-back chronograph in white gold
The Tonda Hemispheres GMT in rose gold with a "Havane" dail, this one I really like.
The Tonda Hemispheres GMT in white gold with a "graphite" dial
The Tonda Hemispheres GMT in rose gold with a silvered dial
I think particularly noteworthy is the luxury feel of the Parmigiani cases. Just holding one in your hand for a moment with your eyes closed is a pleasure.
I would like to thank the poeple of Parmigiani for their kind reception. I am looking forward to learning more about the Parmigiani watches in the near future, especially the new announcements for the SIHH in January.
This message has been edited by AnthonyTsai on 2010-12-27 09:53:34 This message has been edited by DonCorson on 2011-01-03 11:38:27
A visit to Parmigiani Fleurier
Thanks a lot Don for this superb report.
Thanks for the great report Don
