Parmigiani

The journey of a watch purchase begins with the selection of the brand itself and Parmigiani ticked all the boxes for me.

Let me therefore start with that;

Parmigiani Fleurier is owned by Michel Parmigiani the master watchmaker, who needs no introduction; and Sandoz Foundation. It is one of the most vertically integrated brands, validated by the following companies/divisions under the Parmigiani umbrella;

Vaucher - which produces all the Parmigiani movements and also for others including Hermes. In fact Hermes bought 25% stake in Vaucher in 2006 and due to that, also supplies Parmigiani with its own Hermes straps that are not available to any other watch brands . Vaucher also makes movements for many brands.

Atokalpa - that produces hairsprings and escapements, regulators and gears.

Les Artisans Boitiers - which produces the cases

Quadrance et Habillage - which produces beautiful dials.

Elwin - which produces all the screws, pinions, balance staff and wheels.

Now ; The watch itself- Toric Hemispheres Retrograde:

I had long been in search of a perfect dual-time/ travel-time  watch that would allow independent time zones to be dealt with. Most brands fell short of this and offered only the typical 24hour GMT functions. The arrival of Parmigiani Tonda Hemispheres first piqued my interest; but somewhere I felt that the design was a bit off. To me the Toric represented better design coherence and I was hoping that one-day there would be a Toric Hemispheres.

And then came the Toric Hemispheres Retrograde that claimed the GPHG honors in 2017. It was perfect in all respects, except for the hefty price-tag that came with it! It was therefore a prayer answered, when the Toric Hemispheres Retrograde was launched in steel.

Toric Hemispheres Retrograde is an engineering thoroughbred.

The Case:

A hallmark of artisanal excellence, the mirror polished case measures 42.8mm, and is 11.9mm thick; and therefore of healthy proportions. The bezel is knurled by hand to create gadroons inspired by Greek columns and Parmigiani confirms that this knurling is executed for all watches by a single artisan since 1996!!. This would also mean that no single watch will have the same count of gadroons; making every Toric, a one-off piece. The case itself is three layered. The uppermost is knurled (gadroon- think of these as tiny pillars arranged in a ring) with a circular band running around the top and bottom; this descends like a fort-wall into a groove and then on as a thicker rounded girdle which bulges convex as the second layer. The third layer is the base with its sapphire back screwed on. A very interesting quirk is the eccentric window showcasing the PF317 caliber. The lugs start at the beginning of the girdle and slope down. Two crowns are placed in the case band at 2 and 3:30 markers; the one at the top being the setting crown for the home-time and the other for the local time as well as the date correction. Both crowns are of a graspable size and nicely notched. The PF logo adorns the outer part of the crowns. The crowns are not screwed-down and water resistance of the watch is a very modest 30m. Sapphire crystals complete the top and bottom of the case. I assume that the case uses 316L grade of steel, but cannot confirm.

The Dial:

This is a treat for the eye, with an absolute form and function in harmony. The black dial face is deep and blemish-free; the Parmigiani Fleurier logo in white colored typeface, placed in the right-side at 3’O clock and bounded by a raised oval border. The dial is divided using the principle of golden-proportion.

 Local Time is indicated on the larger face of the watch with the help of two rose gold-plated lume-filled javelin shaped hands, a very distinctive Parmigiani style.

The applied hour marker indices also rose-gold plated, are placed along the white railroad perimeter, with white minute-markers that stand in contrast against the black dial for easy readability.

At the 6’O clock position is the sub-register that combines two functions. The first is the standard seconds sub-divided at 5 minute intervals in white and the seconds indicted via a gold-plated small hand that does the counting-off. The sub-register is horizontally divided into a white upper half marked with 12, indicating day-time (AM) and a light grey lower half marked with 24, indicating the night-time (PM). A tiny but thick beak shaped gold-plated hand marks off the time of the day/night for the Local Time zone.

The second sub-register is placed below the 12’O clock position and is for the Home Time zone. The sub-register has a gold chapter ring set in the dial. The Home Time register has Arabic hour markers at intervals of 1 hour, with longer indices at the 30 min between the hours and sub-divided further with minute markers. Two sleek shimmering steel straight hands without any embellishments complete the construction. All this is with the purpose of being able to allow the wearer to set the Home Time independent of the Local Time, to the minute and thus deal with the problem of those time-zones that are outside the 24 zones.  

To its immediate right is yet another tiny but highly legible sub-register without the hour markers, that records the AM/PM and with the same iconography of white and grey; but with a steel beak shaped hand instead of the gold plated one.

The piece de resistance however is not just the above, but the retrograde date set in a 240^o arc from the 2’O clock position to the 10’0 clock position in the inner perimeter of the dial. Odd days are rendered in white Arabic font and the even days by index markers. Indication of the exact date is via a Pointer-Date in steel, with a red crescent tip. The date arc is perfectly spaced and extremely legible without the usual clutter associated with many brand offerings.

On 31^st; and precisely at 12:00:01 midnight, the steel pointer date snaps back to 1^st with whiplash speed and cannot be captured by the naked eye. Of-course, I did use a slow-motion mode in my phone-camera to capture this stellar moment!

The Caliber:

PF317, with its 316 components, is the caliber that does duty in the Toric Hemispheres Retrograde; and has been endowed with an add-on module by Agenhor for the second time-zone. The caliber has a diameter of 35.6mm

Beating at 28,800 vph, this serial twin-barreled, 50-hour power reserve automatic caliber, is beautifully adorned with Geneva stripes and Perlage in keeping with the Parmigiani decorative traditions. The stand-out feature though is the bi-directional 22KT gold rotor that has been hand-guilloched. Jewels though, are without any screwed-chatons. 

Finishing is top-notch and leaves little to complain about.

The clasp and strap: The steel watch gets the handstitched PF leather strap in alligator, whereas the gold ones come with the Hermes straps as yet another touch of luxury.  The comfort folding clasp (as Parmigiani calls it) is sturdy and comes with a slider type lockable micro adjustment as well. 

Final impressions: 

Having worn the Hemispheres for a year, I have found the watch to be comfortable on the wrist; beautifully made; with the right touch of artisanship; reliable;  eminently legible inspite of the multi functions and sundials; functionally-rich; and friendly on the wallet. Coupled with the service comfort that brand Parmigiani offers as an integrated manufacture with strong service-points presence, the decision could not have been easier.

PS: Images are stock photos.