In our time of accelerated technological change, mechanical watchmaking offers us a haven, an analogue alternative to digital overload.
There are countless methods for measuring time, and although some functions and mechanisms have remained unchanged for decades, today’s era calls for innovation. While watchmaking tends to stick to generic formulas for displaying GMT functions and dive time calculations, there are exceptions that break with convention.
Parmigiani Fleurier is the perfect example of this. The Maison has succeeded in redefining its relationship with time with two unprecedented innovations: the Tonda PF GMT Rattrapante and the Tonda PF Minute Rattrapante. These modern timepieces are not only a response to the speed of our daily life, but offer a new way of perceiving, feeling and above all, mastering time.
TIME TO RESET
An invitation to reset our relationship with time, the Tonda PF GMT Rattrapante and Tonda PF Minute Rattrapante deliver instantaneous and intuitive measurements that capture the rhythm of modern-day life. The beauty of these complications lies in their extreme user-friendliness.
The ingenious mechanics behind these deceptively simple-looking watches alter the way countdowns and dual time complications are viewed and activated. In a departure from conventional graduated rotating bezels, an additional gold hand concealed under the minute hand executes the task – a minute countdown on the Minute Rattrapante, and a GMT indication on the GMT Rattrapante – without marring the understated elegance of the Tonda PF codes.
“Rattrapante” describes the motion performed by the extra hand when it jumps back to its concealed position, similar to a split-seconds chronograph hand.
Parmigiani Fleurier’s Rattrapantes fuse pragmatic, intuitive complications with the luxurious, understated aesthetic that defines the Tonda PF collection.
“At Parmigiani Fleurier, we push the boundaries in innovation. The individual should control time, his time. It’s not time that should control the individual.”
— Guido Terreni, CEO Parmigiani Fleurier
TONDA PF MINUTE RATTRAPANTE: A 2023 WORLD PREMIERE
Innovation in terms of complications, paired with simplicity of use: true to the spirit of the brand, Parmigiani Fleurier presented the Tonda PF Minute Rattrapante in March 2023, a world first that followed on from the Tonda PF GMT Rattrapante which made waves when it was introduced the previous year.
The birth of the Tonda PF Minute Rattrapante was guided by the idea of reinterpreting one of the most common watchmaking functions, while helping it evolve to become an absolute innovation. The basic premise: to perform the function usually operated by the graduated bezel on a diver’s watch via the movement itself. The result: user friendliness, excellent legibility and apparent simplicity right the way through to activating the function.
While the Tonda PF GMT Rattrapante enables a distinction between local and home time in one-hour increments, the new development of the function in the Tonda PF Minute Rattrapante serves to display the minutes in five and one-minute increments respectively.
The dial features an hour hand and two superimposed minute hands: the rhodium-plated gold minute hand indicates real time and conceals the other 18ct rose gold hand minute hand, which calculates minutes in five or one-minute increments on demand. Pressing a pusher at 8 o’clock makes the rose gold hand jump in 5-minute intervals; the pusher at 10 o’clock moves it by 1-minute intervals. The period of time to be measured will have elapsed when the rhodium-plated hand reaches the position of the 18ct rose gold hand, which is then returned to its superimposed position by pressing the crown-integrated pusher.
The Tonda PF Minute Rattrapante is graced with pure and essential proportions featuring sophisticated aesthetic codes and finishes. A complication that is intuitive, efficient, and extremely simple to use, in harmony with the philosophy that guides the brand.
TONDA PF GMT RATTRAPANTE: A 2022 WORLD PREMIERE
One of the most remarkable launches of 2022, the Tonda PF GMT Rattrapante refreshed the dual time complication with a resolutely innovative mechanism that is true to the purity and minimalism of the Tonda PF collection. The Tonda PF GMT Rattrapante is the perfect instrument for globetrotters juggling time zones. There is nothing superfluous about this sleek, elegant model that seamlessly indicates both local and home time.
The iconic timepiece was reimagined in 2023 with the introduction of a full 18ct rose gold version, graced with a Milano Blue dial featuring a refined barleycorn guilloché pattern.
The Tonda PF GMT Rattrapante appears unassuming at first glance, with the hours and minutes sweeping gracefully around the elegant hand-guilloché dial. Yet beneath this traditional face lies a complication powering two superimposed hour hands; one in rhodium-plated gold for local time and the other in 18ct rose gold for home time.
The pusher at 8 o’clock advances the rhodium-plated hand for local time in one-hour increments; home time is displayed by the gold hand. When the dual time function is no longer required, the gold pusher integrated in the crown allows the local hour hand to “catch up” (rattraper) like the split-seconds hand of a chronograph and hide beneath the gold home time hand.
This original innovation, unique in watchmaking history, relies on a sophisticated and innovative mechanism. Intuitive and simple to use, the Tonda PF GMT Rattrapante allows for purists to enjoy the luxury of an uncluttered time display, whilst reveling in the incredible quality and care lavished on each and every detail.
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