Parmigiani Fleurier

In the early days of this brand under the direction of its founder Michel Parmigiani, a famous watch and clock restorer, the brand mainly offered collector-oriented watches. They are characterized by a special aura, which we prefer to call ‘museum spirit’ and which was cultivated in the brand’s collection thanks to Michel Parmigiani’s fine esthetic sense. His background as a restorer brought a collector’s approach to the design of the brand’s watches, which played an important role in the design of the early collection.

The museum spirit is most clearly expressed in the early Torus collection, which was given the new name Toric around the year 2000. This is reflected in the design of this Toric Rattrapante, particularly in the ribbed decoration of the bezel. The multi-level architecture of the case with the bezel, caseband and caseback creates a symmetrical profile when viewed from the side, while from the front the stepped shape of the bezel is emphasized by two rings with finely crafted ribs. The wide bezel required for this design also allowed the brand to follow the trend for large watches that emerged and gained momentum in the late 1990s, as it enabled a harmonious design with calibers that had previously been developed with the aim of producing smaller watches.

Chronographs with split seconds are one of the most complex classical complications and one of the rarest. The extreme complexity of the split-seconds chronograph mechanism, with a plethora of levers, flat springs and two column wheels programming the chronographic functions, is in itself a nightmare to manufacture, finish, assemble and adjust the caliber and watch as a whole. The rarity of such a watch is largely determined by this fact, but there is still the prejudice that such a watch should not be very expensive in the perception of the buyer – after all, it is ‘only’ a chronograph. Although, in our opinion, it should be priced much higher compared to the tourbillon and the perpetual calendar, if we consider the popular complications. For this reason, split-seconds chronographs are a niche market. The narrowness of the niche, on the other hand, is a great advantage for the collector who wants to own a really great watch, especially if it is undervalued and has good prospects of rising prices.

In our opinion, this Toric Rattrapante Ref. C03960 Limited Edition 10 deserves special attention. Let's start with the fact that the Toric Rattrapante rarely appears on the secondary market - so it's always a noteworthy event. The split-seconds chronograph (rattrapante in French) is one of the most complex classic single complications, more complex than the tourbillon and the perpetual calendar, especially in the traditional version, which is controlled by a double column wheel. The Vénus 179 fitted in this watch is a classic caliber that is highly valued by collectors and experts. The large screw balance, the complex mesh of wheels and steel parts make its appearance irresistible and breathtaking. According to our research, the early case number indicates that this is one of the earliest Vénus 179 Toric Rattrapantes produced by Parmigiani Fleurier and the earliest Toric Rattrapante to have surfaced on the secondary market to date, making this watch even more attractive.