Monochrome Watches
An online magazine dedicated to fine watches

Parmigiani Tonda 1950 – understated elegance

| By Frank Geelen | 2 min read |

One of the Parmigiani novelties of this year we haven’t shared with you: the Parmigiani Tonda 1950. Classic, elegant and very refined, it has all characteristics to become a future classic. 

The Parmigiani Tonda 1950 is an extra-flat dress watch, available in white and rose gold. The Tonda case has classic dimensions, measuring 39 mm  in diameter and is only 7.80 mm thick. The hour markers are applied and match the color of gold of the case. The small seconds sub dial is positioned at the 6 o’clock position and is slightly recessed. And than there’s the movement… extra-flat!

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Parmigiani has no less than 12 in-house calibres, including the extra-flat self-winding caliber PF700, used in the Tonda 1950. It measures 30 mm (or 13 ¼ lignes) in diameter and is only 2.6 mm thick! That’s 0.35 mm thicker than Piaget’s caliber 1208P, which is used in the new Altiplano automatic. Like Piaget, Parmigiani also used a micro rotor to wind the main spring. The off-centred micro-oscillating weight is made of platinum 950, so it has more weight than a gold rotor and more easily winds the watch.

Despite the movement is ultra-flat, Parmigiani still finished the movement to the finest haute horlogerie finishes you would expect from Parmigiani. The nickel silver main plate is sand-blasted, circular-grained and then rhodium-plated. The bridges are sand-blasted, rubbed-down or ‘Côte de Genève’ decorated, then bevelled by hand and, finally, rhodium-plated. Each wheel is bevelled, sunk, circular-grained on both faces, then gilded before cutting. Although we can’t show you a photo of the movement, it can be admired through a sapphire crystal in the case back. The movement and the entire exterior of the new Tonda 1950 are created entirely in-house, right up to the indexes on the dial.

The photo below, made by Ariel Adams of aBlogtoRead, shows how perfectly elegant and classy the Parmigiani Tonda 1950 is.

Caliber PF 700 – Automatic winding

  • 42 hour power reserve
  • Calibre 13 ¼ ”’ – Ø 30 mm, thickness 2.6 mm
  • Frequency: 3 Hz – 21,600 Vib/h
  • 29 jewels, 1 barrel
  • “Côtes de Genève” decoration, hand bevelled bridges
  • Oscillating micro-weight made from 950 platinum

After requests we added a photo of Parmigiani caliber PF 700 for you. You can see the bridges with typical Parmigiani finish and design.

For more information please visit the Parmigiani website.

https://monochrome-watches.com/parmigiani-tonda-1950-understated-elegance/

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