Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Sport Chronograph Watch Review
The Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Sport Chronograph is the latest creation from the esteemed Swiss Maison. A contemporary, understated watch featuring an integrated chronograph, the new PF is a paragon of horological virtue. Mark McArthur-Christie shares his thoughts.
How do you define class?
As the splendid New York-based Shazam Wilson so memorably sang, “Classy baby, stay classy, classy.” It’s all very well for Mr Wilson, but class is remarkably difficult to define. It’s far easier to know it when you see it than to come up with even a reasonable working definition.
For example, a gold-plated Mercedes AMG G63 is emphatically not classy, despite costing more than a terraced house in Brislington. A silver, Sacco-designed Mercedes S123 estate from the early 1980s, even with the inevitable bit of rust and costing more to fill with petrol than buy, has more class than the AMG’s Siberian squirrel-fur footwell mats.
It’s even harder to define class when it comes to watches. But you won’t see horophiles turning up a snooty nose and dismissing any of Parmigiani Fleurier’s offerings.
Parmigiani knows what class looks like
Perhaps it’s because the Tonda’s original designer, Michel Parmigiani, has watch oil for blood. Having restored everything from the allegedly ‘unrestorable’ charred remnants of the Breguet Pendule Sympathique clock and pocket watch to Fabergé peacocks, he undoubtedly knows what class looks like. And now the firm is under the charge of ex-Bulgari boss Guido Terreni, who has pared back its offerings to just the Tonda range. The newest, the Tonda PF Sport Chronograph, fits right in rather than standing out conspicuously.
Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Sport Chronograph – an active watch
Parmigiani describes the new Chronographs (it’s been launched along with a three-hander, the PF Sport Automatic) as having “… been designed as active counterparts to their Tonda PF siblings.” In other words, these are the Tondas you can – at least in theory – take swimming, climbing, canoeing or, should you wish, wear while ragging your Lagonda through Eau Rouge. Suffice it to say anyone doing this will be very much of the ‘drink the good wine, use the crystal and don’t save the best until last’ school of thought. To be fair, though, these watches are up to the task.
Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Sport Chronograph – case
The 42 mm case (you have a choice of stainless steel or 18ct rose gold) is properly water-resistant and will take 100 metres of pressure. According to a diver pal, the real issue is the first 10 metres – if your watch survives that, it’ll be fine to any practical depth you’ll see without Heliox. The crown screws down and the caseback is held with four security screws.
While we’re looking at the rugged bits, the new Chronographs have ditched the bracelets of their predecessors and replaced them with a Cordura-treated, hand-made rubber strap, fixed with either a gold or stainless steel folding clasp. Where some would treat a rubber strap almost as an afterthought, Parmigiani has been typically detail-focused, so the strap fits seamlessly. In fact, it looks as though it’s integrated into the case, rather like the straps on the Tonda PF Alligator models from late 2022. It’s textured on the outside and smooth on the inner face, so should be both robust and comfortable to wear. If you really don’t like rubber, the firm will happily supply your Chronograph with a bracelet.
As you’d expect from a firm like Parmigiani Fleurier, the case is far from just functional. As Guido Terreni explains, “The finishing on the cases of these models is incredibly complex with both brushed and polished surfaces.” The challenge is managing to finish one plane of the watch case without stuffing up the contrasting finishing on another plane. Terreni also says that the fully polished lugs are a “nightmare”, simply because they have to be produced and finished separately before they’re assembled. Anyone who’s had to drop an engine into its bay over newly painted wings will know the feeling.
If you’re a nailed-on Parmigianista you might spot something else that’s different about the case. Take a look at the bezel; it’s a new design. To be fair, this isn’t exactly a revolution as there are simply fewer notches than on the Tonda PF models. The firm says it’s to “give a sportier feel”. Counting them (several times to make sure), there are 160 notches on the new Tonda PF Sport Chronograph as opposed to 220 on the Tonda PF. Don’t say we don’t do detail around here. It’s not a massive change, but it does make the whole plot look a shade more robust.
The end result of all this care is a win for me, though. The way the lug finish is chamfered and the case is brushed means it just fits without you really noticing it’s there. A thickness of just under 13 mm helps.
Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Sport Chronograph – dial
It’s hard to get a chronograph simultaneously legible enough to be useful in the real world but understated enough to look like this. One of the most effective ways the new Chronograph has managed this feat is by switching to panda subdials for the chrono functions. You still get a 30-minute counter at 3, running seconds at 6 and a 12-hour counter at 9, but now you also get contrast.
That extends to texture as well as colour. The new watches use a smooth, matte black background for the subdials, while the main dial is clou triangulaire guilloché (tiny pyramids). They may be tiny, but those pyramids are the subject of intense debate on Fleurier’s Rue du Temple. As Terreni explains, “If we take the guilloché pattern on the Tonda PF, we expended much time on the size of the motif, deliberating whether to make it smaller or larger. It’s a bit like cooking pasta, ensuring it’s not overcooked or undercooked, but making sure it’s just right.” Perhaps that gives us a first in watch history – al dente guilloché.
Guilloché work of this quality isn’t something you can stamp out with a press, a couple of hundred at a time. It’s all done by a watchmaker, by hand, with a rose engine. And it’s bogglingly painstaking. One judder or shake and the dial’s toast.
Both the gold and stainless models use the same dial design, with hand-applied 18ct gold, rhodium plated applique markers (unplated 18ct gold on the gold-cased model) with an unusual and downright clever black luminescent coating. The large date from the earlier model has moved to the gap between 4 and 5 and the tiny pyramids that make up the clou triangulaire guilloché are slightly smaller. I might have been tempted to lose the date for the sake of symmetry and a cleaner dial, but it’s easy to criticise when you’ve not been involved.
Hands are classic Parmigiani delta skeletons, rhodium-plated again (at least on the stainless watch) and also tipped with black lume. If they’d been solid, their visual weight would have been way too much for the delicate dial. The chrono hands are 18ct gold and either rhodium-plated or plain, depending again on the case material.
Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Sport Chronograph – PF070 caliber
Powering everything is the 42 jewel Parmigiani PF070 caliber. It’s – as you’d expect – in-house and COSC-certified. Rather than a micro-rotor, the new watches use a centrally-mounted 22ct rose gold full-size rotor to energise the movement’s lone barrel to deliver a 65 hour power reserve. Not to miss out on the proper Haute Horlogerie finishing, the rotor is also skeletonised, polished and sandblasted.
Practically, the chronograph functions are integrated (rather than modular eg a Dubois Depraz chronograph module added to a non-chronograph base) and controlled through a column wheel. This all adds up to smooth, snicky pushers, an evenly ticking central chrono seconds hand and a pleasing sense of proper watch engineering.
The free-sprung balance (adjusted with tiny weights rather than by moving an adjuster on the balance cock) runs at a brisk 36,000 vph. That’ll help with accuracy and resistance to the time getting out of whack through everyday knocks disturbing the balance’s oscillations.
Finishing-wise, Parmigiani’s watchmakers have gone to town on the movement. Bridges are all hand-bevelled as well as open-worked and satined. The finishing on this movement isn’t just to make components look gorgeous (although it certainly does that), it’s to make them last and resist corrosion. As Michel Parmigiani once said, “I want my watches to be restored in 500 years time.”
Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Sport Chronograph – closing thoughts
The PF Sport Chronograph is one of those watches that looks, at first glance, simple enough. But once you start looking closer, the finishing and sheer quality of the watchmaking comes through clearly. But, despite being a cracking example of serious Haute Horlogerie, it’s in no sense bling, overstated or shouty. In fact, the opposite – you have to work a bit to see what’s on offer. As Terrenni says, “Our intention was never to create a ‘flashy’ watch. The idea was to create a timepiece that wasn’t conspicuous but contemporary.” Perhaps that’ll do as a working definition of class. For now, at least.
Further reading
Technical specification
- Model: Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Sport Chronograph
- Reference: PFC931-1020001-400182 (steel)
- Reference: PFC931-2020001-400182 (rose gold)
- Case: diameter 42 mm, height 12.9 mm, water resistance 10 ATM (100 metres), sapphire crystal to front, exhibition case back.
- Functions: hours, minutes, small seconds, date, chronograph
- Movement: calibre PF070, self-winding movement, frequency 36,000 vph (5 Hz), 42 jewels, power reserve 65 hours, 315 components.
- Bracelet: black strap with folding clasp
- Price: steel – CHF 26,500 including VAT (RRP as of 26.8.2023)
- Price: rose gold – CHF 46,000 including VAT (RRP as of 26.8.2023)