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Parmigiani, the Swiss hidden Gem

Parmigiani Watch

Switzerland has always been associated with quality watches. It could be said that majority of fine watchmakers are Swiss. Switzerland has produced some of the best watchmakers of our time.

Michael Parmigiani was 25 years old when he out up the Parmigiani Mesure et Art du Temps in Fleurier, Switzerland. The company focused more in watch repair than in the manufacture of watches. Parmigiani is an outstanding watchmaker for it was he who repaired Breguet’s Pendule Sympatetique which even the “experts” in Breguet deemed quite an impossible feat.

In 1996, Sandoz Family Foundation bought a controlling hold on Parmigini’s company. Sandoz is a trusted name in Swiss watches since 1870. In 1971, the company split up into four divisions: Sandoz Hong Kong; Sandoz Singapore; Sandoz Spain and Sandoz Swiss. The four groups of company are all under the Sandoz umbrella but each group has its own collections. Sandoz Swiss takes care of the high-end luxury units.  In 1996, Parmigiani released its first line of watches for men and women and a Grande Complication. In watch technology a “complication” means that the features are more than a display of time, date and day. Complications encompass 24-hour watch, tourbillon, chronograph, moon phases, perpetual calendar, minute repeater and more.

In 2001, Sandoz acquired three other companies. They are Bruno Affolter, a company that makes watch cases,  SA, Atokalpa SA and Elwin SA, both manufacturers of watch components. The three companies merged in 2003 to form the Vaucher Manufacturer which makes the components needed by Parmagiani watches.  By the same year, Parmigiani Mesure et Art du Temps which means The Measurement of Art and Time, ^was renamed Parmigiani Fleurier.

Parmigiani watches are divided into three major lines – for men, women and novelty items.  The women’s collection comprise of Kalpa Piccola;  Kalpa Donna; Kalparisma; Kalpa Grande;  Chronograph; the Chronograph Fly-back; the Quantieme Perpetuel  Retrograde; the Tourbillon and Jewellerey.  Under Jewellerey is the limited edition of Kalpa Grande Automatic Gold & Palladium –automatic winding movement with 55 hours of reserve power, with day-date, hours, minutes, and in 18 karat gold (yellow, white or rose) and 950 palladium finish.  The Retrograde Perpetual calendar aside from its features of hours, minutes, seconds, precision moon phase, perpetual calendar with apertures are set with 60 baguette-cut diamonds.  Case is in 18 karat gold and has the prestige of incorporating Hermes alligator with tongue buckle.

For men, the collection is composed of: Kalpa Grande; Kalpa XL; Tonda; Chronograph; Chronograph Fly-back;  GMT;  Retrograde Perpetual calendar; Tourbillon,  Bugatti type 370; Grand Complications and the line of Limited Editions.  Exceptional is the Bugatti type 370 series. This is the first watch that has a transverse movement which makes it possible for the dial to face the user as his hands grip the steering wheel of a car. This is the perfect watch for race car drivers.   A limited edition came out of the assembly line to commemorate Bugatti’s centennial. Aptly called Bugatti Centenaire, there are only 200 pieces of this limited edition. The watch is very special as the Chevron engravings on each piece required more than 300 hours of superb craftsmanship to finish, thanks to the Philippe Bodenmann, unique and talented artisan.  The two limited editions are in 18-karat rose gold and platinum 950.  A regular Bugatti type 370 series watch is pegged at £200,000.

Under the novelty series are the Bugatti Atalante series for men and women; Kalparisma; Pershing 002; Pershing Tourbillon and the Tondagraph.

For a watch company that officially began in 2001, Parmigiani Fleurier is definitely among the top watch company today.  Parmigiani’s humble beginning of a watch repairman is still evident as he continues to challenge himself in restoring historical time pieces.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, March 27th, 2010 at 3:20 pm and is filed under Parmigiani, Watch Info and tagged with Bugatti, Chronograph, Kalpa Donna, Kalpa Grande, Kalpa Piccola, Kalparisma, parmigiani, parmigianni, the Chronograph Fly-back, the Quantieme Perpetuel Retrograde, the Tourbillon. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.