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.
