Horological Meandering

patrick_y
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Introducing: The Parmigiani Fleurier Tondagraphe GT Annual Calendar and Chronograph Timepiece

Introducing: The Parmigiani Fleurier Tondagraphe GT Annual Calendar and Chronograph Timepiece

Parmigiani Fleurier is a top quality Swiss watch producer with in-house manufacture movements that are decorated to the highest quality.  Originally a ultra-haute-horlogerie brand that at one point only tackled the most difficult projects like automatons, minute repeaters, and restoring historical timepieces (for the Patek Philippe Museum among other big institutional clients), it is a true pleasure to see Parmigiani Fluerier now expand its line of more accessible timepieces. 

I reviewed the Parmigiani Fluerier Tonda 1950 timepiece and declared it the best value of SIHH 2017.  It was a great watch with excellent movement finishing, a micro rotor automatic, and the strap even featured a very clever depoyment clasp, and all of this was offered at an incredible price!  Read the review here:

www.watchprosite.com

But while these recent pieces have very reasonable prices, it’s not at the expense of quality, for they still exhibit excellent movement finishing, in-house manufacture movements, and superb overall craftsmanship. 

The latest model is the Tondagraphe GT, which is a combination of an annual calendar and a chronograph.  The annual calendar features a big date display, courtesy of two small discs 0-3 and 0-9 for the numerals ensuring more legible reading of the date than on a single large disc with dates 1 to 31 typed out. 

The watch is generously sized at 42mm in diameter, but appears smaller than its statistics suggest due to the way the bracelet and lugs are cleverly integrated into the case.  With the wide strap or bracelet, the width will distribute the weight of the watch evenly allowing for comfortable wear in sporty conditions.  The case of the watch is a true athlete and isn’t filled with false sporting pretenses; it has a screw-down crown and water resistance to 100 meters! 

The PF043 automatic movement can run a small marathon with its 45-hour power reserve.  It’s a very complicated movement, 443 individual pieces including 56 jewels are expertly put into a space that’s only 7.3mm high.  The movement is shown in full view on the posterior of the timepiece.  The dial side features an annual calendar with date and month displays in orange.  The 3 o’clock subdial is the running seconds for the watch; 6 o’clock is the 12 hour totalizer for the chronograph; and the 9 o’clock subdial is the 30-minute totaliser for the chronograph. 

At a very attractive price of $19,500 in the bracelet variant ($18,500 for the rubber strap variant) this timepiece will be in demand.  But one should act quickly, as only 200 pieces exist.  I’m not sure if it’s 200 pieces for both the strap and the bracelet variant, or combined, but in either case, it’s a small amount! 

In addition to the Tondagraphe GT Annual Calendar Chronograph, there are time and date models.  Pictures are below. 

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