Parmigiani Fleurier Toric Chronograph Rattrapante Watch Review
Parmigiani Fleurier Toric Chronograph may be familiar to several fans of the British royal family. His Majesty The King has been a proud owner of a first-generation Toric chronograph for many years. Earlier this year, the high-end brand from the Val-de-Travers region unveiled the Parmigiani Fleurier Toric Chronograph Rattrapante featuring a double column-wheel hand-wound movement. Mark McArthur-Christie begins his article by talking humorously about acquiring a ‘holiday watch’, before exploring this exceptional reference from the Maison synonymous with Haute Horlogerie.
Parmigiani Fleurier watch
There’s always something about a holiday watch that makes it special. By ‘holiday watch’, I don’t mean the beater one packs to wear in the pool or the dodgier bits of backstreet Marrakech. No, this is the watch that catches one’s eye from the window of a holiday destination dealer. For many of us, this is often a relatively (in HH terms, at least) cheap Seiko or Citizen. No matter the price, it always carries the memories of time spent away from one’s desk and the daily drudge. It’s the sort of watch you strap to your wrist on a miserable February morning to raise a smile and cheer yourself up a bit.
Parmigiani Fleurier – fit for a king
It’s good to know that we horophiles are in good, even royal, company when it comes to impulse buy holiday watches. Long before he became King, Charles III was keen on a spot of skiing in Klosters. Like so many of us, after a day on the slopes he may well have stopped and peered into the local watch shop’s window to see what was on offer. Unlike most of us, at some point in the late 1990s, he (or more likely a well-briefed equerry with the royal credit card) nipped in and snagged a Parmigiani Fleurier Toric Chronograph, powered by a modified El Primero movement, presumably from Maissen Klosters AG. He wears it to this day. There’s clearly something special about a Toric.
Image – Parmigiani Fleurier Toric Chronograph as worn by HM The King, Charles III
Rather like HM The King, Parmigiani Fleurier has come a long way since the late 1990s. This new Toric Chronograph is an altogether different offering from the Zenith-powered early models both in its design and manufacture (in both senses of the word). Hardly surprising, given that the firm can now call on the support of several in-house companies, including movement specialist Vaucher, rather than relying on bought-in calibres. In terms of design, not only is the case smoother, more refined and altogether more modern, the Calibre PF361 movement is in-house and runs a rattrapante chronograph – more of that later.
Parmigiani Fleurier Toric Chronograph Rattrapante – a new look
The ‘old’ Toric chronograph case had thin straight lugs, two bands of knurling (a Toric trademark) and oval pushers. Of those features, only the last one remains. Now the lugs are thicker and way more substantial – although not in the Tonda’s league – tapering as they meet the strap. Parmigiani has cut the top edge of the case knurling down to a single band and the watch is none the worse for it. The oval pushers are joined by a dual-duty crown that not only winds and sets but actuates and stops the rattrapante complication. In fact, according to Parmigiani Fleurier’s CEO, Guido Terreni, the crown also has a third function; to enable you to enjoy feeling the mechanics of the movement as you wind it. As a motorcyclist (R1150GS too – fine choice), Mr Terreni knows a thing or two about how important it is that a mechanism feels right – all the more so as a Moto Guzzi fan.
Image – Guido Terreni, CEO of Parmigiani Fleurier
Parmigiani Fleurier Toric Chronograph Rattrapante – Calibre PF361
Flip your Toric over and there’s a screwed-on back (always a good thing) with a sapphire display window. Parmigianis – especially this one – having display backs is something that really should be written into cantonal law in Neuchâtel. Seriously – just look at that movement.
That’s the Calibre PF361. Launched in 2016, it seems to have a Dorian Gray approach to aging. If you’re an aficionado, you’ll probably spot that this is essentially the PF070/6710 minus the winding rotor and gear train. The stats – impressive as they are – don’t really tell all the story, but here they are anyway. You only have to wind your Toric every 65 hours (it won’t do it for you, this is a keep-fit movement even if it is firmly at the luxury end of the market). Despite this, it beats at a power-hungry 36,000 vph (5 Hz) with 254 components, including 35 jewelled bearings.
There’s a vertical clutch controlling the chronograph seconds hand, keeping stutter to a minimum courtesy of two column wheels (one for the chronograph and the other for the rattrapante). But it’s the design and finishing that stops you. The openwork bridges are all satin finished and bevelled – both inner and outer edges, and, if you take a closer look you can see that everything radiates from the balance, just as it should. Look even closer and you’ll spot mirror-polished screw heads with chamfered slots and circular graining on the gear train. You could well spend more time with this one off your wrist than on it, just enjoying the movement.
Parmigiani Fleurier Toric Chronograph Rattrapante – dial
Dialside, things quieten down. A lot. That’s not to say they’re dull – just restrained after the baroque movement. The dial itself is hand-grained, 18-carat rose gold. ‘Hand-grained’. Two words covering a serious amount of watchmaking cleverness, hard work and detail obsession. Most grained dials are done with a computer-controlled laser. To hand-grain a dial to this quality, you need an inordinate amount of patience and the manual skill of a professional-level safe-cracker.
Apart from a couple of stiff double espressos, the dialmaker starts with a supply of potassium bitartrate (cream of tartar to its friends), silver and crushed sea salt. He or she will have to mix it with demineralised water (no calcium residues here, thank you) to make a paste. Then, they’ll stipple the dial with a range of brushes, finally polishing it to give the finish you see in the pictures. It seems unfair that the dials of these later Toric chronographs look so much plainer than their forebears despite needing every bit as much work; however, once viewed at close quarters, their subtly refined execution comes to the fore, justifying their remarkable execution.
The inner edges of the recessed subdials stand out, thanks to the polished bevelled edge encircling their form, as do the 18-carat rose gold hour and minute hands. The chrono sundial indicators are gold-plated steel, while the chronograph and rattrapante hands are rose gold-plated and rhodium-plated steel, respectively. Again, imagine the level of finishing that goes into producing something that, at first glance, looks so simple.
Parmigiani Fleurier Rattrapante
With stiff competition from the case and dial, it’s hard to give the rattrapante top billing, but in sheer engineering terms, it deserves it. With a tourbillon seemingly behind every other crystal, there are very few rattrapante complications out there, probably because they’re insanely gnarly to manufacture and assemble. There are certainly very few movements of this quality and finish.
Imagine that you need to have a mechanical means of making both the chrono and Rattrapante seconds hands start simultaneously and move in unison, but on-demand stopping one while the other carries on. It’s basically a double chronograph but in a movement thinner than the depth of three pound coins. In the case of the Toric, you depress the pusher at 2 o’clock to start the chronograph then, for a split time, you use the button set within the crown, finally stopping again with the top pusher before resetting it with the 4 o’clock pusher.
Parmigiani Fleurier Toric Chronograph Rattrapante – how to wear it?
The hand-stitched nubuck alligator leather strap with a minimalist, 3 mm stitch designed to retain the softness of the material and an 18ct rose gold pin buckle keep the Toric securely attached to the wrist. Sadly, the buckle won’t work both ways – so you can’t wear the watch with the movement uppermost. The upside of a buckle (rather than the deployant you might expect) is that even if you can’t do that, you can readily remove it from the arm and spend many hours admiring its no-compromise creation.
Parmigiani Fleurier Toric Chronograph Rattrapante – closing remarks
The Toric Rattrapante is rather like a classic 1970s Porsche 911. It looks unfussy, clean and elegant, but it goes like stink. It’s also rare – there will only be 30 of these (hardly surprising given that dial work – the firm can only produce three each month). So if any royals are looking for a replacement for their late 1990s holiday watches, they’d better dispatch the equerry to Klosters with the royal Barclaycard sharpish. Unless they’re waiting for a platinum-cased version, of course. Now wouldn’t that be a thing?
Further reading
https://www.parmigiani.com/
Technical specification
- Model: Parmigiani Fleurier Toric Chronograph Rattrapante
- Reference: PFH951-2010001-300181
- Case: 18-carat rose gold, diameter 42.5 mm, height 14.4 mm, water resistance 5 ATM (50 metres), sapphire crystal to front, exhibition case back.
- Functions: hours, minutes, seconds, split seconds chronograph
- Movement: Calibre PF361-SLIM, hand-wound movement, frequency 36,000 vph (5 Hz), 65 jewels, power reserve 60 hours, 285 components.
- Bracelet: brown hand-stitched nubuck alligator leather strap with 18-carat rose gold pin buckle
- Price: CHF 135,000 (RRP as of 18.9.2024)