Parmigiani Fleurier is a brand to watch right now. The company’s CEO Guido Terreni, who arrived at the maison earlier this year after transforming Bulgari’s watchmaking arm, is tightening the commercial focus onto bestselling lines like the Tonda PF and Tonda GT, while founder Michel Parmigiani continues to be the heart of the company, ensuring it retains its independent artisan soul.
In a year when the big launches were crowd-pleasing sports watches in the form of the Tonda GT collection and the more classical Tonda PF range, the historic craftsmanship of a watchmaking genius like Mr Parmigiani has been given its full expression in a unique pocket watch, which is unveiled today to mark the atelier’s 25th anniversary.
La Rose Carrée is a one-off, 64mm, white gold, double hunter pocket watch housing an original movement made by legendary watchmaker Louis-Elisée Piguet around the turn of the 19th century, when he was at the peak of his creative powers.
The grande sonnerie and minute repeater movement, which Mr Parmigiani acquired in the late 1990s, has been fully restored.
A Rose Carrée or “squared rose” pattern engraving spans the entirety of this legacy movement, as well as the newly designed case, which is coated in translucent blue grand feu enamel.
Earlier this year, Mr Terreni decided a grand statement should be made to mark the 25th anniversary for PF, and wanted the project to represent past, present and future of the brand including Mr Parmigiani’s culture, the new CEO’s vision and the best of what the talented craftspeople surrounding them have to offer.
“We were trusted with a movement that’s exceptional by its complications, by the number of components and by its quality,” says Francis Rossignol, who works with Michel Parmigiani at the restoration workshop. “Our aim is to embellish it, to enhance its aspects, but our job is to always remain in the background.”
While the movement was being rejuvenated, both covers of the case were engraved by the skilled hands of Eddy Jaquet with a motif called “Rose Carrée”.
The square roses, inspired by the linear form that rose petals take when they start to wither, are meticulously and assiduously hand-engraved. Their pattern follows the Golden Spiral, a mathematical derivative of the Golden Ratio, which is seen everywhere in nature from trees, plants, and seashells.
The case cover’s blue enamelling is made to highlight the delicate geometric roses floating within a ripple of water on a sea of blue. “The blue of La Rose Carrée expresses the colour of a body of water as one would see it from the sky – with all the nuances and subtle changes in the shades of blue according to the various depths,” says Mr Parmigiani.
La Rose Carrée Golden Hands is such a labour of love for the business, that it has provided a full list of artisans and executives who brought the project to life.
La Rose Carrée Golden Hands was created by:
Guido Terreni, CEO
Michel Parmigiani, Founder
Anne-Laure Parmigiani, Project Leader (trained watchmaker and engraver)
Anne-Marie Moser, Designer
Francis Rossignol, Restorer
Christie Girel, Restorer
Bernard Muller, Beveller
Laurent Jolliet, Chain Maker
Eddy Jaquet, Engraver
Vanessa Lecci, Enameller
Les Artisans Boîtier, Case Maker
LM Cadrans, Dial Maker
