Parmigiani Fleurier Toric Fleur
The Parmigiani Fleurier Toric Fleur is an overtly feminine creation, inspired by a spring flower. With exquisite proportions, this watch is housed in an 18-carat rose gold case. It features an automatic in-house movement, the Calibre PF310.
Artists behave like magpies, picking up ideas wherever they go. All artists have this tendency, drawing inspiration from the most unlikely objects. An accomplished artist distils this array of ideas and, employing their talents, refines them to a glorious conclusion.
Michel Parmigiani is a consummate watchmaker and a restorer of horological artefacts. Indeed, it is his love of historic clocks, watches and automata that has led his company to craft new watches imbued with intrinsic longevity. Each surface, every component and all finishes are chosen to ensure a watch or clock outlives its owner and is capable of restoration in the future. But most of all, Michel is an aesthete, obsessed with lines, curves and proportions. He is a strong advocate for the golden ratio, employing proportions often found in nature.
When a line is divided into two parts so that the long part divided by the short part is also equal to the whole length divided by the long part, this is termed the golden ratio. The golden ratio is approximately 1.1618 and is expressed with the Greek letter ‘phi’ (Φ). Recently, on a TV documentary about the luxury car marque, Aston Martin, Marek Reichman, the firm’s Chief Creative Officer, discussed the importance of the golden ratio in terms of car design and how it has influenced the brand’s models.
In his body of work, Michel, a son of the Val-de-Travers region, repeatedly demonstrates his empathy for nature and his belief in the golden ratio.
Michel is an artist seeking inspiration from numerous sources. With this latest model, the Parmigiani Fleurier Toric Fleur, Michel has replicated the appearance of a flower he saw in a meadow while walking in the Swiss Jura.
The Parmigiani Fleurier Toric Fleur is presented in a rose gold case, measuring 33.7mm. Consistent with other members of the Toric collection, the watch features a knurled bezel. At the heart of the watch is an in-house, self-winding movement, the Calibre PF310, which encompasses the Maison’s revered watchmaking skills.
The brand’s press release
The spring sea
Swaying gently
All day long.
As he was reading this haiku written by the master poet Yosa Buson, evoking the undulating waves of the sea, Michel Parmigiani had the idea to create a watchmaking masterpiece to illustrate the permanence of the spring, the remembrance of the passage of time: the Toric Fleur.
Featuring a rose gold case in 33.7 mm, it is fitted with the subtly knurled bezel typical of the Toric collection. Arabic figures indexes are applied on the white mother of pearl dial, while the delicate gold lace design evokes a carpet of marguerites adorning the Swiss valleys in Spring. Driven by the automatic in-house calibre PF310, the leaf-shaped hands with luminescent material, another tribute to nature, indicate the hours and minutes. The small seconds hand appears at six o’clock. The case back offers a captivating spectacle, the Côtes de Genève bridges are shaped like a hand fan while the gold rotor is delicately engraved with a barley grain motif. A white opal cabochon graces the crown of this watch, which comes together with a calf oakum Hermès leather strap. The Toric Fleur masters the art of simplicity while combining poetry, high horology, the most sophisticated materials and true elegance.
Michel Parmigiani’s father, a real-life philosopher, used to say « If you learn to look, art will reveal itself. » These words echo in the mind of his son and continuously guide him in every action. As a child, he enjoyed trying to understand nature and the human works imitating its perfection. It was this passion that led him to his work in restoration, to masterpieces seeking to physically reproduce the marvels of our world and to Japan’s culture, and its way of existing with the highest refinement. This love is also embodied in his own Japanese-style garden, and its material translation in high horology. The golden ratio guides his hand, from the design of the watch itself to the interior parts of the movement, it appears in all that surrounds us, including the wonderful marguerites and all of Parmigiani Fleurier’s timepieces.
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