Whereas there aren’t any ensures in life, you’re unlikely to tire of a watch that makes you smile – and never simply made you smile as soon as, however nonetheless makes you smile. We’re reminded of this with the current debut of the Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Minute Rattrapante Arctic Rose. Two years in the past, when the watch was a horological premiere, we wrote that it made fanatics grin stupidly as a result of it was enjoyable. It took a successful idea, the visually hidden complexity of the model’s GMT Rattrapante, and utilized it to an extra minute hand as a substitute of an hour hand. Why? To create a countdown perform that was successfully a diver’s bezel for the tuxedo-wearing set. It was playful and it was distinctive, which is vital provided that it isn’t cheap. With this new Arctic Rose model, it additionally appears to be like the half
The headline right here is, in fact, the dial. Dubbed “Arctic Rose,” it’s removed from an ordinary salmon or copper dial. It reportedly possesses a crystalline high quality, shifting hues with the sunshine; we’ve not dealt with it within the steel to check this function of the pale palette. Parmigiani Fleurier is cautious to notice that this isn’t a mere trend assertion; it’s a historic reclamation, or maybe sartorial justice.
Within the 18th and nineteenth century, rose was a color of masculine refinement and distinction, however that modified with advertising and marketing and social tendencies of the mid-Twentieth century. By reintroducing this shade to masculine watchmaking, the model affirms an aesthetic free of conference, calling it “the language of a assured magnificence”. The dial is completed with the agency’s signature Grain d’Orge guilloché. As at all times, we anticipate that it’s executed in a sample so nice it creates a hypnotic texture that lends the dial depth and motion.
Whereas the face has modified, the substance of the watch stays intact. For many who missed the 2023 debut, the genius of this watch lies in its counter-intuitive simplicity.
At first look, it seems to be a easy two-hand costume watch. Nonetheless, hiding in plain sight is a second minute hand in rose gold, superimposed beneath the rhodium-plated real-time hand. It stays invisible till the perform is activated, awakening solely when summoned.
Housing this “personal luxurious” is a 40mm stainless-steel case, measuring a slender 10.7mm in thickness. It options the gathering’s figuring out knurled platinum bezel, a signature we stay captivated with.
Contained in the Tonda PF Minute Rattrapante Arctic Rose beats Calibre PF052, an computerized motion with a micro-rotor that’s as aesthetically pleasing as it’s technically proficient; it’s in fact the identical motion that did the heavy lifting within the first model in 2023.
MOVEMENT Automated calibre PF052 with rattrapante minute hand; 48-hour energy reserve
CASE 40mm in metal with platinum bezel; waterproof to 100m
STRAP Bracelet
PRICE CHF29,700
This story was first seen as a part of the WOW #82 Festive 2025 Difficulty
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