Home » The Salon International De La Haute Horlogerie » SIHH 2012 Preview – Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda Annual Calendar Watch
Swiss luxury watch manufacturer, Parmigiani Fleurier, will be among 18 major timepiece brands that will be displaying their latest marvels at the 22nd edition of Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie. The visitors of the first major horological event of the year, who were lucky enough to get a required invitation to this closed manifestation, will be able to admire the brand’s new model, named Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda Annual Calendar Watch. This timepiece represents a major breakthrough for the company. It runs on the 17th movement that was developed in-house, and it is the first one with the inclusion of an annual calendar with a retrograde display. The new function is enabled by the PF 339 self-winding movement which was based on a previous mechanism by Parmigiani Fleurier, with the designation PF 331.
The annual calendar complication enables its wearer to tell the date, day and month at minimum. In some instances, as it is done in this case by the Swiss watchmaker, it also displays a moon phase. Due to the inclusion of this complication, the watch will “recognize” if the month has 30 or 31 days, and its wearer will not have to make adjustments of this sort. This means that it is far superior to timepieces which require such adjustments every month. However, there is some necessary tweaking for the “most problematic” of all months, February. The necessary adjustment is needed only once a year for common years. In case it is a leap year, the watch will do all the work by itself. So, it comes down to only three adjustments in a period of four years which, you will have to admit, is not so bad.
No more than One Adjustment per Year
Another nice trait is the manner in which the days are shown. The day of the month is seen on a neat retrograde scale, placed on the top of the dial and made in a shape of an arch. In other words, this means that it has a linear indication (instead of the traditional circular one), and every times a new month starts, the hand that displays which date it is goes back to the initial position. Days of the week are represented on the round sub-dial at the nine o’clock position, whereas the next sub-dial, placed on the opposite part of the dial tells which month it is. As said before, Ronda Annual Calendar Watch involves a moon phase display which is very precise and needs to be corrected only once in 120 years which is certainly far more than an average human lifetime. It is constructed to display moon phases on both hemispheres at the same time.
After the explanation of the watches movement and its functions, let us concentrate on the “package” – its casing and dial. The case is of round shape as it is usual for Ronda wristwatches by the Swiss manufacturer. It has the diameter of 40 mm and the thickness of 11.2 mm. As for material, there are two available options – white gold (made of an alloy of gold and palladium) or rose gold. Both versions have polished finishes. The face is covered with a glare-proof sapphire crystal, while the sapphire on the case back allows its wearer to gaze upon the automatic PF 339 mechanism. The white gold variation is made with silver and the red gold model has a black dial. The strap used for Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda Annual Calendar Watch is the black Hermes leather with a polished ardillon buckle, made in material that matches the case.
