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| Parmigiani Watches |
Michel Parmigiani, a trained watch restorer of Italian descent, was for a long time unknown in the watch business. His skills, on the other hand, were very well known to famous European museums, where he achieved prominence for his talented reparation work on watches that had been judged irreparable by other experts in the field. With the complete refurbishment of the famous Montre Sympathique by Abraham-Louis Breguet, a task that no one else had even dared to attempt, Parmigiani's name became known
to the rest of the horological world overnight. Soon after this, Michel Parmigiani began developing and producing his own calibers, although he stayed with the sizes familiar to
him from his clock and pocket watch "patients." When, in May 1996, on the initiative of the Sandoz Foundation, which subsequently acquired a 51 percent stake in his company, he launched his own collection of wristwatches, it didn't take long before the first "small" watch movement was created.
The tonneau-shaped Caliber P11 0 from 1997 was Parmigiani's first movement, and two years ago, after a long period of trial and error, Caliber 331 joined the family. The strong motor of this automatic movement, constructed in an exceptionally modern fashion, lays the foundation for a complete manufacture collection. The classically beautiful movement is neither especially flat nor especially small in diameter, but it does contain two serially operating barrels that guarantee a power reserve of about fifty-five hours.
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| This still very young luxury brand has been industrious in developing its model palette further, filling each collection with life. The confidently designed Forma features - along manufacture - an unmistakable appearance and speaks to a clientele that can self-assuredly wear a statement on the wrist. This is something that women tend to find a little easier with this model than fully grown men who have more problems with the refined proportions of the watch. They seem to prefer the round Toric models, which radiate a somewhat more masculine aura in the appropriate color and material variations.
Since the company is located in Fleurier, somewhat remote in the Val de Travers, the activities of the brand are not under continuous observation like the other companies up in the Vallee de Joux, where literally no screwdriver can be dropped without one of the competitors finding out about it. Michel Parmigiani has been busy renting buildings and buying machines in the last few months upon which larger amounts of watch movements will be manufactured in the near future under the new company name of Vaucher Manufacture. These movements are reserved only for the Parmigiani watch brand at first, but as soon as things get rolling, the newly developed automatic movements will be at the disposal of other affluent watch brands. It will be exciting to see how the Val de Travers deŽvelops in the next few years!
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Parmigiani Fleurier
Rue du Temple 11
2114 Fleurier, Switzerland
Tel: (011-41) 32 862 66 30
www.parmigiani.ch
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