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Toric Rattrapante in White Gold with Salmon Dial

Parmigiani Fleurier

Toric Rattrapante in White Gold with Salmon Dial

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DETAILS

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 in 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.

REASONS TO BUY

In our opinion, this Toric Rattrapante Ref. C03960 Limited Edition 10

in white gold with a salmon-colored dial 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 complications, more complex than the tourbillon and the perpetual calendar, especially in the traditional version, which is controlled by two column wheels. The PF271 caliber, elaborately crafted by Parmigiani Fleurier on the basis of the Vénus 179, is a classic high-end split chrono caliber that is highly appreciated by collectors and experts. Its large screw balance, beautifully curved levers and flat springs, and complex, multi-level architecture of wheels and steel parts make its appearance irresistible and breathtaking. The coveted salmon-colored dial makes this watch even more attractive.

ABOUT THIS WATCH

According to Stepan Sarpaneva, who worked for Parmigiani Fleurier in the late 1990s, Parmigiani Fleurier has been producing split-seconds chronographs since 1997. There are launched several small limited editions, as a rule, of 10 pieces, and sometimes brand offered unique pieces. This Ref. C03960 was launched in a limited edition of 10 pieces with 40 mm white gold case, copper-colored “salmon” dial, applied Arabic “Breguet” numeral 12, recessed and grooved counters including 12-hour counter, the logo on an oval cartouche and red tachymeter scale.

All known versions:

• Limited edition of 10 pieces, Ref. PF004138, 40 mm platinum case with salmon-colored dial, 12-hour counter and red tachymeter scale.

• Limited edition of 10 pieces, Ref. PF000114 (C03860), 40 mm white gold case with white dial, applied Arabic “Breguet” numerals 12 and 6, without 12-hour counter (the watch with case number 2943 is known);

• Limited edition of 10 pieces, Ref. C03960, 40 mm white gold case with copper-colored “salmon” dial, applied Arabic “Breguet” numeral 12, recessed and grooved counters including 12-hour counter, red tachymeter scale (watches with case numbers 6558, 6559, 6563, 6564 are known);

• Limited edition of 10 pieces, Ref. C03961, 40 mm white gold case, black “Reverse Panda” dial, applied Arabic “Breguet” numeral 12, silvered counters including a 12-hour counter, blue outline of the oval cartouche and blue tachymeter scale (watch with case number 6565 is known);

• Unique piece, Ref. C03861, case no. 4560, 40 mm, in white gold without 12-hour counter, with Roman numerals XII and VI;

• Limited edition of 10 pieces, Ref. C03940, 40 mm rose gold case with black dial, rose gold-colored counters including 12-hour counter, applied Arabic “Breguet” numeral 12, blue tachymeter scale (the watch with case number 6593 is known);

• Limited edition of 10 pieces of the Toric Rattrapante 2000, Ref. PF000373, 40 mm rose gold case with black dial, black counters including 12-hour counter, applied Arabic “Breguet” numeral 12, white tachymeter scale (the watch with case number 4105 is known).

All of these editions are equipped with the Parmigiani Fleurier caliber PF271 (originally designated PF27001), which is based on the Vénus 179 that originated from the Jaquet-Baume (now La Joux-Perret) movement factory in La Chaux-de-Fonds, which reworked and reissued the classic Vénus movements in the late 1990s. According to Stepan Sarpaneva, who was involved in the production of the Toric Rattrapante from 1997 to 1999 together with another Finnish watchmaker, Kari Voutilainen, they put a lot of work into reworking the movements to bring their technical condition and appearance up to haute horlogerie standards. A closer look at the caliber PF271 confirms this: It has a beautiful design and a high-quality finish on all parts. Overall, the caliber PF271 of this watch leaves an excellent impression. The finishing includes perlage on mainplate, Côtes de Genève decoration on the bridges, circular brushing, solarization, straight grinding, ball-polished pivots and pins, flat-polished screw heads, the traditional chamfering of the mainplate, bridges and steel parts of the split-seconds mechanism.

Currently, Parmigiani Fleurier does not use the PF271, which is based on the Vénus 179 caliber, but the new Toric Rattrapante, which will be launched in 2024, uses a completely in-house hand-wound caliber PF361 – in our opinion, it is in no way inferior to the “oldie but a goodie” Toric Rattrapante in terms of attractiveness.