Intricate, slate-colored dial adds elegance to Parmigiani's Tondagraph Tourbillion watch, priced at $200,000
There are 295 components in the $199,000 wristwatch, and it has a power reserve of 72 hours.
With a reputation for producing complex timepieces with an enduring commitment to craftsmanship, Parmigiani Fleurier, based in the Val-de-Travers area of Switzerland, has earned its niche as a boutique watchmaking brand since it was founded in 1996. In the middle of the quartz crisis in the 1970s, Michel Parmigiani, an experienced watchmaker and restorer from Fleurier, was inspired to create the first mechanical watch restoration workshop in the world, a small workshop dedicated to mechanical watch restoration.
There has been a slight aesthetic refinement made to Parmigiani's slate-colored dial of the Tonda Tondagraphe Tourbillon, the third Tonda Tondagraphe to be launched since the model came out in 2009. A new Grain de riz (French for rice grain) guilloché work accented with rose gold plated appliques has been added to the dial.
Since one of its earliest models, the 1999 Kalpa Hebdomadaire, a tonneau-shaped watch whose volumes were designed according to the golden ratio, the brand has been dedicated to the golden ratio, a mathematical proportion that is approximately equal to 1 to 1.618, which is said to yield the most pleasing shape.
Tondagraphe's 43 mm 18-karat rose gold case is home to a hand-wound, PF354 movement which is crafted entirely in-house. The movement is made of 295 components with a 72-hour power reserve. The sapphire crystal on the caseback allows us to see the bevelling on the tourbillon bridge and the circular graining on the barrel. As with the model's superficial components, this watch is finished to the same exacting standards as the external components.
You can see the tourbillon through the opening at 6 o'clock, while the chronograph minutes are displayed on a counter at 3 o'clock, while the small seconds are displayed at 9 o'clock and the power reserve is displayed at 12 o'clock.
Featuring a rose gold pin buckle with a Havana alligator strap, this $199k model is water-resistant and comes with a rose gold pin buckle.
