The Tonda 1950 Double Rainbow Flying Tourbillon is a fine example of how Parmigiani Fleurier marries the skill of watchmaking with the art of jewellery.
Following the launch of the Tonda 1950 Rainbow in 2019, Parmigiani Fleurier is proud to reveal its new Double Rainbow Flying Tourbillon of the same name. This haute horlogerie timepiece features a dial set with white diamonds and also adorned with a crescent of aventurine and a gradient of coloured stones.
The careful selection and setting of these stones evoke this natural phenomenon, a result of the most painstaking and meticulous craftsmanship. The ultra-thin PF517 movement, comprised of a platinum micro-rotor and flying tourbillon, was developed following in-depth studies conducted by master watchmakers. To keep the piece as slim as possible, the decision was made to integrate the calibre in the movement’s main plate.
The 7 o’clock position of the tourbillon on the dial is a nod to founder Michel Parmigiani, who was born at 7:08am on December 2, 1950. The Tonda 1950 line also pays tribute to a watchmaker who, in the midst of the quartz crisis, maintained a firm belief in the value of the finest mechanical watchmaking.
In 1976, Michel Parmigiani opened a restoration workshop, where he studied dozens of past watchmaking masterpieces. Twenty years later, in 1996 in Fleurier, in the Swiss valley of Val-de-Travers, the Parmigiani Fleurier brand was born. In honour of its origins, it still has a restoration workshop that works on all kinds of horological pieces. It also serves as an inspiration for all of the brand’s creations.
Ultra-thin movements are one of Parmigiani Fleurier’s areas of expertise. For example, the restoration workshop recently worked on a pocket watch in enamelled gold commissioned by Tsar Nicolas I. This extremely rare watch dates from around 1840 and was made by Robert Brandt & Cie in La Chaux-de-Fonds. The ultra-thin watch movement that drives it is known as a Bagnolet, an “inverted” calibre in which the gears rotate in the opposite direction to allow the time to be read in the conventional way.
Parmigiani Fleurier is indeed the labour of a lifetime.
