Michel Parmigiani’s birthday clock takes you to Northern Italy – Robb Report

Parmigiani Fleurier

At the end of each year, there are many festivals worth celebrating, including Thanksgiving, the holidays, and New Year’s Eve. For watch lovers, this season also marks the birthday of Michel Parmigiani. No, this doesn’t mean adding another line for him to your shopping list every December. Quite the opposite. Instead, Michelle Parmigiani will gift you with an amazing new watch every time you add a candle to her birthday cake.

This has led in the past to the limited edition Toric (the first wristwatch designed by Parmigiani in 1996) and the Les Roses Carres, a 25th anniversary collection of minute repeaters inspired by the famous pocket watch of the same name. Timekeepers such as: Last year, this celebration became especially monumental with the debut of yet another outstanding pocket watch, L’Armorial. This one-of-a-kind masterpiece features a chronograph, minute repeater, and perpetual calendar with moon phase, all housed in his 18K white gold case, showcasing his breathtaking Grand Feu enamel work.

But this pocket watch goes far beyond such an impressive list of features. Spanning 58.2 mm, the work transports the viewer to northern Italy, where Parmigiani’s family is from. This is his 16th century royal residence, Palazzo Te in Mantua, strategically located at the crossroads of Milan, Genoa and Venice. Inside the Palazzo Histe, head to the Hall of the Giants, which exhibits the work of artist Giulio Romano. Fall of the Titans. This Renaissance work incorporates both architectural elements and nature, with the harmony of the Golden Ratio, a principle that has long influenced Parmigiani’s approach to design.

To take us on this journey, Parmigiani borrowed the expertise of four “Golden Hand” artisans to form the chain, engrave the case, and enamel the case back. Here you can see the work of Laurent Jollier, Eddy Jacquet, Christophe Brandenier and Vanessa Rech, who are famous for the enamel work on Parmigiani’s La Rose Carré pocket watch. According to Rech, her teamwork with master sculptors Jacquet and Brandenier was like “dancing a beautiful waltz.”

“The clock went back and forth between me and the engraver many times before glazing and during engraving to ensure every detail was perfect. We talked with each other and integrated the intricacies of our respective professions. We discussed the technical requirements for each,” says Lecci. rob report. It was a very symbiotic process. ”

It’s no surprise that this was a true collaborative effort, taking Giulio Romano’s life-size creation and scaling it up into a pocket watch.of Fall of the Titans The work depicts a crucial moment in the story told by the Latin poet Ovid in his Metamorphoses, when the god Jupiter strikes a thunderbolt to destroy the giants, causing buildings to collapse and a desperate It is about plunging the giant into despair. For Lecci, reconciling this chaos was key.

“My palette is certainly based on the original color choices, but one of the challenges was to harmonize the cool and warm colors to achieve something beautiful when looking at the pocket watch as a whole.Beauty Silence calms us down. It makes us forget about the confusion.”

In the end, she chose to use transparent rather than opaque enamel to best blend with the metal sculpture. Here, she mills each colored enamel with more than six different particle sizes, and while applying each of the seven layers (this process took about 50 hours of work), she explains which one to use. A decision had to be made.

“This was technically difficult for me, but it was like an interesting game where everything is won or lost during the firing process between the layers of each color. Patience, concentration and control are important to me. Thankfully, the result was perfect!”

After the final firing, the final stage of hand polishing begins, bringing the enamel piece to life. For Lecci, this process of working with pocket watch canvas is particularly rewarding for several important reasons.

“The enamel treatment of a pocket watch back provides a completely different surface to a watch dial, partly due to its larger diameter, but more importantly due to the lack of protective glass, both visually and tactilely.” A pocket watch allows you to observe carved and enamelled surfaces without a filter. Here, even the slightest imperfections are visible and the proper technique to achieve this level of perfection is essential. Developing it is pure adrenaline for me. But on the other hand, the unobstructed interaction with this enamel work also allows me to experience the complexity of its beauty.”

This is an understatement. L’Armoriale pocket watches are truly mesmerizing to look at. The synergy between the craftsmen is very evident, with each technique enhancing the other to create depth and movement, resulting in a watch that feels alive both inside and out. Of course, the heartbeat of this timekeeper is equally impeccable in its caliber. Dating back to 1890, he of Geneva is a mechanical movement signed A. Golay Leresche & Fils. The original caliber was equipped with a chronograph and a minute repeater. However, in 1985, Michel Parmigiani restored the movement and added a perpetual calendar with a moon phase.

This unique work of art is available for purchase and prices are available upon request by contacting Parmigiani Fleurier directly.