I know, I know, you are all waiting for the new Panerai and Patek and AP’s, etc….but I’ve got one more SIHH 2012 piece from the lesser known (but by no means inferior)  brand Parmigiani.  This is the first annual calendar from the brand, with a retrograde date prominently placed around the upper arc of the dial about 4 o’clock to 8 o’clock.  The annual calendar keeps the day and date of the week accurate all year round, only in need of correction in February, unless, of course, it’s a leap year.   The dial looks unbalanced to me, with too much emphasis placed on the date.  Parmigiani manufactures all their own movements, and the Tonda Annual Calendar has an automatic mechanical movement with a newly developed calendar module.

Parmigiani Tonda Annual Calendar

40mm rose or white gold case, dial in silver or charcoal grey with a silvered opaline ring and choice of grained decoration or barley grain in the center

Brasil!

Here is a cool new chronograph from Swiss watchmaker Parmigiani Fleurier.  The Parmigiani Pershing “Confederação Brasileira de Futebol” Chronograph is a special edition watch created for the Brazilian Football Confederation (or “Confederação Brasileira de Futebol” (CBF) for your Portuguese speakers out there) as part of a new Parmigiani/CBF partnership that will run through at least 2015.  The CBF is the governing body of football in Brazil, a nation that is as passionate as they come when it comes to their football — and of course home of the 2014 FIFA World Cup!

The watch is very tastefully designed, with the perfect balance of Brazilian  yellow, blue and green colors on the dial.  I also like the strap choice — Hermès alligator “blue abyss” color!  The first of this limited edition series was recently presented to Brazilian superstar Ronaldo, but for a hefty sum (normal Pershing’s tend to start in the $15,000 – $20,000 range) and the right connections, you too can own one of these special watches.

Parmigiani Fleurier Pershing “Confederação Brasileira de Futebol” Chronograph

45mm titanium case with pink or white gold bezel, PF334 automatic mechanical movement, back engraved with the logo of the CBF, Hermès alligator “blue abyss” strap with steel folding clasp

Simple but elegant…

In a preview of what is to come at SIHH 2011 (oh yea!), high-end Swiss brand Parmigiani Fleurier gives us an early look at a well-designed and classic looking watch holding an ultra-thin movement.  The 39mm case (7.8mm thick) is available in rose gold with a grained white dial and white gold with a graphite dial.  Of note is the movement in this watch.  Visible through the watch’s sapphire crystal caseback, the “PF 700″ is is not only Parmigiani’s newest but also the twelfth in-house caliber from the manufacture.  This ultra-thin, automatic movement is just 2.6 mm thick, with an off-center micro-oscillating weight in platinum 950.  This is almost — but not quite — as thin as the 2.45mm-thick movement in the Audemars Piguet Jules Audemars Extra-Thin watch (sans perpetual calendar) that my friends at Hodinkee wrote about last week.  An impressive ultra-thin dress watch by any standard.

Parmigiani Tonda 1950

Hour, minute, small seconds at 6 o’clock, individual number engraved on the case-back, comes on alligator strap with matching ardillon buckle

39mm White Gold case

39mm Rose Gold case

Just in time for summer, Parmigiani Fleurier has released a striking new variation in its Tonda Hemisphere collection.  The overall design follows previous Tonda models, except this particular version boasts a rarely seen capability — that is, full timekeeping capabilities — both hours and minutes — for two timezones.  The case is 42mm in diameter in highly polished steel, with a partially-skeletonized dial accented in a beautiful blue color (as are the matching hands).  The matching strap is crocodile leather from prestigious luxury brand Hermes.  The price is likely to be in the $15,000 range.

You may have noticed that there are two crowns on the watch — one for one time zone, the other for the second time zone as well as winding the watch.  There is also a night/day gauge for each of the time zones as well.

As I write from Perpetuelle.com Headquarters (East Coast USA) – underneath about 32 inches of snow…and still snowing…

Switching it up a bit from the many Baselworld 2010 pre-releases we are covering here, I wanted to show you a very special unique piece (or “piece unique” as the French may prefer to call it) that was recently unveiled by high-end and very talented watchmaker Parmigiani Fleurier (commonly known as Parmigiani).  Of course those of you who saw Parmigiani at SIHH 2010 in Geneva already know of this watch   It is the Tecnica Crystallisation watch.  While I’m not exactly sure what the inspiration for this watch – “mineral crystallisation” – is all about, I do know that this is a pretty incredible watch.  Aside from its obvious visual appeal, the watch has some neat elements – a skeletonized dial, a tourbillon, and a minute repeater with “cathedral” chimes (which I would like to hear!).  I am hoping to get some more background information on this watch and I will let you know if/when I do.

On the back:  enameling work with a three dimensional effect

Model

Tecnica Chrono – unique piece

Theme

‘Crystallisation’ inspired by mineral crystallisation

Movement

PF353  Skeleton, Manual winding, power reserve 48 hours, frequency: 3 Hz – 21,600 Vib/h, 47 jewels, tourbillon, minute repeater with 2 “cathedral” chimes, rhodium-plated bridges with lengthwise hand-drawn strokes, bevelling and backing hand polished, steel circular-grained lengthwise

Functions

hour, minute, minute repeater and chronograph

Case / Exterior

round case: 44.0 mm, thickness: 16.00 mm

material: 950 platinum, polished finish

double knurled bezel

water resistance: 3 bar / 30 m

crown: 7.0 mm, cabochon in genuine blue sapphire

case-back with sapphire crystal

double case-back with hand-engraved hinge according to the theme

covered with translucent grey enamel

individual number No. 12995 and UNIQUE PIECE engraved on the case-back

Dial

sapphire base, sand-blasted areas; transferred black minute track, counters and logo; transferred blue ring; “Javelin” shaped hour and minute hands in blued steel, with superluminova; chronograph minute counter hand and central seconds hand in blued steel.

Strap

‘Hermes’ type blue alligator strap with knurled 750 white gold ardillon buckle, polished finish