When Parmigiani Fleurier introduced the Tonda PF in 2021, it was conceived as a new expression of the maison’s idea of contemporary watchmaking: integrated bracelets, refined proportions, finely resolved details and complications that never needed to announce themselves. The collection quickly established its own visual language; one built around the precision of its details and the confidence of its proportions.
The Tonda PF Skeleton that followed took that philosophy into more revealing territory. Here, the movement is no longer something encountered behind the dial or through a caseback. It becomes part of the watch’s face, but in a manner that remains unmistakably Parmigiani Fleurier. The openworking is deliberately restrained, allowing the calibre’s structure to become visible without turning the watch into an exercise in mechanical exhibitionism.
The latest expression is the Tonda PF Skeleton Rose Gold in Milano Blue, limited to just 30 pieces. Here, the watch’s underlying character remains unchanged, but the atmosphere around it has been transformed.
The 40mm case is crafted in 18-carat rose gold, with alternating polished and satin-finished surfaces and the knurled bezel that has become one of the Tonda PF’s signatures. At 8.5mm thick, its proportions give the precious metal enough presence on the wrist while keeping the silhouette remarkably composed. The integrated rose-gold bracelet follows the same treatment, carrying the case into the wrist without introducing another visual language.
Then comes Milano Blue.
It is a dense, almost nocturnal blue, and against rose gold it changes the character of the skeleton considerably. Rather than simply framing the movement, the colour gives the spaces between its components a greater sense of depth. The dial alternates sandblasted and satin-finished surfaces, while the 18-carat rose-gold indices stand out within the openworked architecture. The skeletonised delta-shaped hands are restrained, giving the hours and minutes a clear presence without closing down the view of the movement beneath.
That movement is the in-house PF777, an automatic calibre measuring 3.9mm in thickness and composed of 192 components. It operates at 4Hz and offers 60 hours of power reserve. Its openworked bridges are satin-finished and hand-bevelled, with the treatment of the edges providing much of the visual definition when light catches the movement. The 22-carat rose-gold oscillating weight is skeletonised, polished and sandblasted, making the rotor itself part of the composition and not merely a functional element.
Skeletonisation can easily become a demonstration of how much material can be removed. Parmigiani Fleurier approaches it from the opposite direction: understand the mechanism first, then decide what can disappear without disturbing its structure. That philosophy is rooted in Michel Parmigiani’s restoration work, where understanding how a mechanical object was made is inseparable from deciding how it should be preserved or interpreted.
The result is a watch that rewards proximity. At first glance, the rose gold and Milano Blue establish the mood. Look longer, and the finer work begins to emerge: the bevels along the bridges, the changing surfaces, the suspended indices and the movement of light through the open architecture. Turn it over, and the sapphire caseback offers another view of the PF777, while the 100-metre water resistance gives the piece a degree of everyday practicality that sits comfortably beneath its haute horlogerie character.
Limited to 30 pieces, the Tonda PF Skeleton Rose Gold Milano Blue is not a reinvention of the Tonda PF. It is a particularly concentrated expression of what the collection has become known for: proportion, restraint and craftsmanship that reveals itself slowly.
In this version, Parmigiani Fleurier has lent the skeleton watch an atmosphere. The Milano Blue creates the darkness; the rose gold supplies the warmth; and between them, the PF777 provides the architecture.
The closer one looks, the more there is to see.
Source: Khaleej Times