As a restorer, Michel Parmigiani encountered grenage, a hand-graining technique with a seventeenth-century recipe, and he has since taught it to Parmigiani Fleurier’s dial-makers.
The TORIC Petite Seconde Platinum Morning Blue carries that surface on a dial of 18-carat white gold. TORIC is the collection through which Parmigiani first set out his vision for the Maison, in 1996. The new watch shows hours, minutes and small seconds, and nothing more.
The grain is worked entirely by hand. A paste of cream of tartar, sea salt, silver and demineralised water is brushed across the gold in semi-darkness, because silver reacts to light. No two dials are identical, and the brand says the grain gives Morning Blue its depth.
The polished platinum case measures 40.6mm across and 8.8mm thick, topped by the collection’s knurled bezel. Through the sapphire case back, the manually wound calibre PF780 shows rose gold bridges and two visible barrels.
“With TORIC, we did not seek to revive the past, but to reformulate it. The dress watch deserved a freer expression: more intimate, more tactile and more self-assured,” says Guido Terreni, CEO of Parmigiani Fleurier.
It is a watch that rewards a closer look, and one that still asks to be wound by hand.
The Basics
Brand: Parmigiani Fleurier
Model: TORIC Petite Seconde Platinum Morning Blue
Reference: PFC940-2010008-300181
Diameter: 40.6mm
Thickness: 8.8mm
Case material: Polished platinum 950 with a knurled bezel; sapphire case back
Dial: Morning Blue, hand-grained 18ct white gold; hand-applied 18ct gold rhodium-plated appliques
Water resistance: 30m
Strap: Akoya Grey hand-stitched nubuck alligator leather; platinum 950 pin buckle
The Movement
Calibre: PF780, manufacture movement in 18ct rose gold
Functions: Hours, minutes, small seconds
Winding: Manual
Power reserve: 60 hours
Frequency: 28,800 vph (4Hz)
Jewels: 27
Images courtesy of Parmigiani Fleurier.