Rosneathian
1471
It's interesting that you found "deliciously outdated" as a preferred way to describe how the watch looks and feels.
Jan 13, 2022,03:37 AM
One of the characteristics of early PF was how Michel Parmigiani sought a purity of style that had little if anything to do with watch forms of the day. One could argue with justification that his designs were outdated the moment they landed, and intentionally so. They were appealing to a different time altogether.
His inspiration was explicitly Hellenic, which explains the two-tiered knurled bezel (representing compressed Doric pillars). He also applied the Golden Section and Fibonacci sequence to his watch dials, cases and lugs, with varying degrees of success it must be said. In any case, this is a fellow who chose between architecture and watch restoration as a vocation. It's clear he brought his love for classical architecture (not to mention mathematics) into his watchmaking.
In terms of the movement, his insistence on the finest possible finishing wasn't frippery. It had an explicitly practical motivation. As a restorer, he wanted his movements to last the test of time, and industry-leading finishing was one way he sought to achieve it.
It's precisely this look - and the philosophy behind it - that makes these watches so attractive to me. It's nice to have a watch that politely takes leave of contemporary styles and goes off on its own idiosyncratic journey. It's why I've also just bought the 2000 Toric Automatique to give my Ionica some company.
Some photos of mine below, including one with a guest appearance from my latest.