In the bustling heart of Manhattan, at the iconic Gotham Hall, the much anticipated WatchTime New York 2023 is just around the corner, scheduled to take place from October 20 to 22. Adding to the prestige of the event event, Parmigiani Fleurier, the famous Swiss watch manufacturer, will take advantage of the occasion by exhibiting two special mechanical masterpieces—Tonda PF GMT Rattrapante and Tonda PF Minute Rattrapante. These watches are not just time-measuring instruments but also works of art that showcase the beauty and complexity of mechanical watchmaking, while offering an innovative new use of the rattrapante function.
Tonda PF GMT Rattrapante
The Tonda PF GMT Rattrapante wowed audiences at last year’s Watches and Wonders Exhibition. This watch is an expansion of the Tonda PF collection first released in August 2021, and like that version, the Tonda PF GMT Rattrapante maintains the same sophistication and sophistication as its predecessors. The design closely resembles other GMT and rattrapante models on the market, yet it approaches complications with a light and unexpected execution.
For the exterior of the model, Parmigiani Fleurier chose a polished and satin-finished platinum case, complete with a knurled bezel and 18-karat rose gold “back-home” pusher at 3 o’clock. The case is 40mm in diameter with a height of 10.7mm and is also available in rose gold and stainless steel.
The pure “milano blue” dial is finished with a barley guilloché pattern and decorated with geometric indexes plated with 18-carat gold rhodium. Tickling above are two skeletonized hands indicating the local time and minutes in rhodium-plated 18-carat gold. Unlike many GMT designs, the dial omits a date window or 24-hour hand, instead choosing to showcase the complication through a single 12-hour counter.
At 8 o’clock, there is a pusher that, when pressed, causes the hour hand to jump forward in one-hour increments to place the watch in the second time zone. As the hour hand moves, the exposed 18-karat rose gold house hour hand underneath remains consistent with the original time zone. Pressing the rose gold pusher integrated into the crown repositions the rhodium-plated hour hand over the “home time” hand in a manner similar to a split-seconds chronograph hand.
Inside this model, the caliber PF051 operates behind a sapphire exhibition caseback. The automatic winding manufacture movement supports a split GMT function and features a rose gold micro-rotor. Rose gold Côtes de Genève and Perlage decorations throughout the finished movement complement the rose gold “home time” hand on the caseback.
Tonda PF Minute Rattrapante
With the Tonda PF Minute Rattrapante , Parmigiani Fleurier is picking up where the Tonda PF GMT Rattrapante left off last year. A literal stopwatch, the two-hand 40mm platinum model allows for the measurement of elapsed minutes in increments of one or five. A pair of rhodium-plated hands are responsible for displaying the hours and minutes on the sand-gray-toned Grain d’Orge guilloché dial.
The rose gold hand below jumps to the corresponding desired time period when the pushers are activated at eight and ten o’clock respectively. The desired time will pass as soon as the classic minute hand has caught up with the position of the rose gold hand. Hence the name because “rattrapante” means “to catch up.” The stop minute hand is reset by a pusher integrated into the crown.
Responsible for this elegant timekeeping is the in-house PF052 movement, which oscillates at 21,600 vph. Its rose gold micro-rotor, also decorated with the Tonda PF line’s signature barley pattern, is revealed through the exhibition case back.
“At Parmigiani Fleurier, we push the boundaries in innovation. Individuals should control their time and their time. This is not the time for personal control. That is the essence of our world premiere.”