THE HOME OF WATCH CULTURE

INTRODUCING: The one-off Parmigiani Fleurier La Rose Carrée flexes the horological might of the manufacture INTRODUCING: The one-off Parmigiani Fleurier La Rose Carrée flexes the horological might of the manufacture

INTRODUCING: The one-off Parmigiani Fleurier La Rose Carrée flexes the horological might of the manufacture

Zach Blass

If you asked me which watch brands the mass marketplace needs to pay greater attention to, Parmigiani Fleurier would genuinely be on my list. In watchmaking, there are at times silent heroes who don’t get their due – even though they work with or supply movements to more household name brands. If you are a regular consumer of watch media, the movement manufacture Vaucher is likely on your radar. Vaucher ebauches and calibers are used in watches from Richard Mille, Hermes, and Audemars Piguet. At Geneva Watch Days, I expressed a strong appreciation for Gerald Charles and their Maestro 2.0 watch. But I wasn’t always sold on the watch. It previously used a Soprod caliber, and I felt for the price a stronger caliber should have been utilized. The second iteration brought a Vaucher caliber into the fold, making it a much more intriguing offering to consider for a collection. Why am I ranting on about this? Well the full name of the Vaucher manufacture is in fact Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier – the movement development arm of Parmigiani Fleurier. Parmigiani Fleurier’s talent in movement manufacture, as well as all aspects of watchmaking, cannot be understated and today the brand flexes their horological might with a special one-off pocket watch. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the brand, as well as founder Michel Parmigiani’s birthday, the brand has introduced the Parmigiani Fleurier La Rose Carrée grande sonnerie minute repeater.

The 64mm x 20mm pocket watch is cased in polished white gold. It is a double hunter case, with one cover revealing the dial and the other its movement. The square-shaped bow the component chain is affixed to, is partially filled with grand feu enamel, while at its base, on each cover side, you can see a hand-engraving of the La Rose Carrée – which translates to “the square rose”.

“Both covers of the case are engraved by the skilled hands of Eddy Jaquet with a motif called ‘Rose Carrée’. The square roses, inspired by the linear form that rose petals take when they start to wither, are meticulously and assiduously hand-engraved. Their pattern follows the Golden Spiral, a mathematical derivative of the Golden Ratio, which is seen everywhere in nature from trees, plants, and seashells.” – Parmigiani Fleurier

The outer perimeter of each cover are set with diamonds, framing both fantastic hand-engraving and enamelling work. Blue grand feu enamelling is layered on top of an intricate hand-engraved La Rose Carrée motif, a tall order for the master artisans who fabricated it.

“Between three and four layers of blue grand feu enamel are meticulously applied by artistic enameller Vanessa Lecci. She added even more depth and rich colour to the magnificent engraving work, while ensuring the extensive enamelling appears the same on both covers, one more extraordinary feat. Vanessa had to venture into the unknown while working on a complex textured surface that is much larger than the average wristwatch, 60 mm vs. the usual 30. Her skills and nerves were tested at the highest level.” – Parmigiani Fleurier

Parmigiani Fleurier La Rose Carrée

While the covers are both colourful and textured, the dial of the Parmigiani Fleurier La Rose Carrée is much cleaner in appearance – but cleaner does not necessarily equate to simpler in regards to manufacturing. Multiple discs were created, but only one met the necessary standards to be used for the pocket watch. Onyx has natural imperfections, and cutting such a large disc runs the risk of inclusions and reflections of light. But fortunately the artisan was able to realise a fully polished onyx disc in order to convey the infinite depth of black the material has been known for on a smaller scale. Two central skeletonized delta hands indicate the hour and minutes. Meanwhile a white-gold outlined sub seconds register, with a white gold sub-seconds hand, is the only area – aside from the PF applied logo at 12′ – where dial text or printing is found. Maintaining the squared theme of the timepiece, white-gold square stud indexes are used to convey the hours. Around the bezel of the dial you’ll find two activators, one at 12′ to silence or activate the grande sonnerie functionality and one at 6′ to start the minute-repeating complication on demand.

Parmigiani Fleurier La Rose Carrée

Continuing the trend of seemingly simple, yet anything but, the Parmigiani Fleurier La Rose Carrée is paired with a chain made of matching white gold, that has squared links reminiscent of the shape of the bow. Entirely handcrafted in 18kt white gold by Switzerland’s last traditional chain maker Laurent Jolliet, each of the 32 square-shaped links are hand bevelled and polished. There are also two engraved squares, and one engraved PF logo oval arranged in a sequence found on the chain as well.

Parmigiani Fleurier La Rose Carrée

With so much attention to detail and time dedicated to the externals, it is only fitting that the movement received the same treatment. But before we dig into the decorations and specifications of the movement, we need to understand the story behind it. In the late 1990s, Parmigiani Fleurier founder Michel Parmigiani acquired an original movement made by legendary watchmaker Louis-Elisée Piguet somewhere between 1898 and 1904. This caliber 5802 remained in a drawer for twenty years before Michel decided it was finally time to restore it and utilize it within a modern creation. But due to its rarity, and the fact they only had one, the manipulation and decoration of the caliber had to be executed with the utmost caution – there are no do-overs with a project such as this. While Louis-Elisée Piguet was known for decorating his movements incredibly well, the Parmigiani Fleurier restoration team set out to put their mark on the caliber without losing the essence of its original forms – both maintaining and furthering the bevelling and anglage of the original caliber. While the angle and bevelling is a sight to behold, what immediately catches the eye are the hand-engraved bridges, balance cock, and even the mainplate – decorated on theme with a La Rose Carrée motif.

Parmigiani Fleurier La Rose Carrée
Top: before restoration. Bottom: after restoration

The restored caliber, now labelled the PF992, ticks away at a classic 18,000 vph (2.5 hz) and offers 32 hours of power reserve. As for its complication, a grande sonnerie chimes the number of hours at the top of every hour and at every quarter, it chimes the number of quarters – all without activation. As a minute repeater, as well, it also will chime the number of hours, quarters, and minutes on demand. Considering the restored caliber is approximately 120 years old, it has had an incredible journey from its days in Louis-Elisée Piguet’s workshop to the benches of Parmigiani Fleurier’s restorers and watchmakers. A perfect example of traditional watchmaking done by modern means, minds, and tastes.

Parmigiani Fleurier La Rose Carrée pricing and availability:

The Parmigiani Fleurier La Rose Carrée is a one-off creation from the brand. To inquire about the timepiece contact Parmigiani Fleurier directly.

Normally we do not always get to acknowledge all those who worked on a special project such as this, so below I have included a list of all the artisans involved in recognition of their work.

  • Guido Terreni, CEO
  • Michel Parmigiani, Founder
  • Anne-Laure Parmigiani, Project Leader (trained watchmaker and engraver)
  • Anne-Marie Moser, Designer
  • Francis Rossignol, Restorer
  • Christie Girel, Restorer
  • Bernard Muller, Beveller
  • Laurent Jolliet, Chain Maker
  • Eddy Jaquet, Engraver
  • Vanessa Lecci, Enameller
  • Les Artisans Boîtier, Case Maker
  • LM Cadrans, Dial Maker