The Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF GMT Rattrapante (And No, It’s Not a Chrono…)

Parmigiani Fleurier unveiled its interpretation of the luxury sports watch in 2021, coinciding with the brand’s 25^th anniversary. Marking the first collection with Guido Terreni at the helm, it also marked the brand’s foray into the highly competitive luxury sports watch market using the Tonda collection as a base. In a departure from many high-testosterone oversized luxury sports watches vying for customers, the Tonda PF has been built around the concepts of refinement and understatement, described by the brand as a “sartorial approach to watchmaking“. Debuting with an automatic time-and-date (micro-rotor), a chronograph, an annual calendar and an impressive split-seconds chronograph with a gold engine in 2021, Parmigiani Fleurier adds a GMT Rattrapante to the Tonda PF line-up. The Tonda PF GMT Rattrapante is a world-first that introduces rattrapante functionality associated with a split-seconds chronograph to a second time zone hand.

Less is More

The unifying features of the Tonda PF collection are the beautiful grain d’orge (barleycorn) guilloché dials, the teardrop-shaped lugs, the seamless integration of the metal bracelet into the case, the delta-shaped skeletonised hands, the knurled bezel, the short applied gold indices and the restraint and minimalism exercised throughout.

Respecting the minimalism that defines the Tonda PF collection, the GMT Rattrapante is equipped with two superimposed and skeletonised delta-shaped hour hands; one is rhodium-plated gold, the other is 18k rose gold. The rhodium-plated gold hand is used to indicate local time and advances in one-hour jumps with the teardrop-shaped pusher on the case flank at 8 o’clock. The task of the single 18k rose gold hand is used to display home time, although it doesn’t have a 24-hour track to differentiate between night and day. However, once the second time zone reading is no longer relevant, the wearer can press the rose gold pusher integrated into the crown and watch the rhodium-plated hand fly back to cover the rose gold hand, just like the hand on a rattrapante chronograph.

Not only is it user-friendly and intuitive, but it also liberates the dial from any additional permanent time displays. With such deliberately scant information, the dial is an open canvas for the fine barleycorn guilloché pattern and the elegant “Milano Blue” colour. The short hand-applied 18k gold rhodium-plated indices, which reach from the blue sandblasted minutes track to the guilloché dial, rely on their polished surfaces to attract the light since the watch has no artificial luminescence.

The moderate dimensions of the stainless steel case – 40mm diameter x 10.7mm thickness – will adapt to most wrist sizes. The finishings, with contrasting polished and satin-brushed areas, underscore the elegant architecture of the watch with its finely knurled single-piece platinum bezel that draws light towards the dial.

A sapphire crystal caseback reveals the Parmigiani Fleurier manufacture automatic movement – calibre PF051 – with its 22k rose gold micro-rotor and Côtes de Genève and perlage decorations. The frequency is 21,600vph, and the power reserve is 48 hours.

Availability & Price

The Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF GMT Rattrapante (ref. PFC905-1020001-100182) retails for CHF 26,000 and will be part of the permanent collection. For more information, please visit Parmigiani.com.