Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF GMT Rattrapante Verzasca

Zach Blass

Watches are inclined to resonate with individuals resulting from their romantic narratives and life-style associations. However look, I do know most of you can see this stunning, so brace your self: most of us won’t ever be checking our elapsed mission time on the Worldwide Area Station, nor checking our timing bezels 300 metres or extra beneath the floor of the ocean. So, when a watch comes alongside that has not solely a romantic narrative however a relatable and sensible use that strikes a real chord, it’s a actually cool factor. And that watch, for me, is the Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF GMT Rattrapante.

Now this overview is private as, full disclosure, I personally purchased and personal the unique Tonda PF GMT Rattrapante with a blue dial from 2022. At Watches and Wonders 2025, this stainless-steel sequel made its debut with a brand new Verzasca Inexperienced dial. Whether or not the unique metal blue dial mannequin I personal, the strong gold mannequin with a blue dial that adopted, or this new Verzasca Inexperienced variant we’re taking a more in-depth have a look at right this moment, there are two key components which can be price understanding that I wish to dig into, however first let’s get into the specs and the way it wears.

The specs and the way it wears

The brand new Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF GMT Rattrapante Verzasca Inexperienced, as its title suggests, incorporates a new Verzasca Inexperienced dial color. In renders, it could not appear a far cry away from the unique Milano Blue dial, however in particular person, the Milano Blue dial is darker than you’d count on, at instances showing virtually black. This new inexperienced dial, nonetheless, is inexperienced in any lighting and has a barely extra informal really feel in its hue. It’s such a definite shade of inexperienced I haven’t actually seen from every other model, so it stays refreshing regardless of inexperienced dials being extra common than ever.

It’s a 60-metre water resistant watch with a 40mm stainless-steel case that may be a reasonably slender 10.7mm thick. There may be a formidable heft to it on the wrist, partly because of the quiet incorporation of valuable metallic by way of its thinly fluted platinum 950 bezel. This further weight creates a powerful centre of gravity that, in flip, actually helps hold the watch centred on the wrist.

The bracelet has been designed with ergonomics in thoughts as nicely, with its extensive stance elevating its steadiness and luxury across the wrist. Its butterfly clasp doesn’t have a micro-adjust system of any sort, however the hyperlinks have been sized to have a extra compact size that you’d see on different manufacturers’ half hyperlinks – successfully a bracelet stuffed with half-link-sized hyperlinks. In cooler climate, my Tonda PF GMT Rattrapante suits like a glove, however because the climate has warmed up a bit bit, I’ve to say that I at instances really feel a bit between sizes. Including another hyperlink does make the watch put on a tad looser than I would really like – however, to be clear, I will be very nitpicky about match, and I believe the overwhelming majority may have little situation by way of the bracelet sizing. Although Parmigiani Fleurier, if you’re studying this, I might not object to a clasp down the road that introduces on-the-fly adjustment!

Earlier than we dive into the calibre, it’s price saying simply how beautiful the exterior ending is. The case is essentially adorned with a wealthy satin brush that’s complemented by very nice, hairline-thin polished bevels which can be quiet in expression. You actually see this on the lugs – which you may describe as a contemporary twist on a cornes de vache model – which look implausible. The mirror sharpening is most seen on the bezel, the case aspect pusher at 7’ (which I’ll elaborate extra on later) and on the bracelet. I really like how, because the bracelet tapers, the polished hyperlink items skinny out as you attain the clasp.

The 48-hour in-house micro-rotor automated PF051 can also be completed to a top-notch commonplace, with lovely striping and nice bevelled edges on the bridges. With its micro-rotor structure, you might have a pleasant, unobstructed view of the parts which can be alive and making the calibre tick, and the micro-rotor itself is worthy of admiration – executed in rose gold, adorned with hand-guilloche and bevelling as nicely.

Now that all of us perceive the spec, let’s get into its distinct and defining performance and design philosophy.

Firstly, what’s a GMT Rattrapante?

Properly, this PF’s title is a bit deceptive in that it isn’t actually a watch with a GMT perform. In my view, it’s one thing that’s really higher: a journey time complication. Whilst you stay in your native time zone, the watch will seem to show solely the hours and minutes, whereas a GMT will all the time have a hand seen to point a further time zone. It’s only via the despair of a case-side pusher on the 7’ place, each probably the most visually pleasing place and the best and most snug place to interact with it for the wearer, that the sophisticated nature of the watch reveals itself. With every press, the native hours hand will advance ahead one hour, revealing a rose gold hand that was hidden beneath that may stay in sync with your property time zone.

That is the place we get into the idea of what a rattrapante is. A rattrapante, or split-seconds chronograph, to maintain issues easy, is a chronograph that may file a number of time intervals that begin on the similar time however don’t finish collectively. However rattrapante roughly interprets to “to catch once more” or “to take once more”. So, whereas it’s largely seen as a mechanism that has two central chronograph arms that begin collectively, will be stopped independently, revealing a second elapsed seconds hand that was beforehand hidden, after which reset to “catch up” and are available again collectively, it isn’t a time period that must be unique to such high-end chronographs – at the least since 2022 when the Tonda PF GMT Rattrapante made its debut.

Parmigiani Fleurier cleverly remixed this mechanism, utilising it for the aim of a journey time performance as a substitute of a chronograph recording a number of intervals. So, the hours hand and the hidden rose gold hours hand rotate collectively in the identical place till you hit the pusher to leap the native hours hand ahead, in flip indicating two completely different hours regardless of initially sharing a place to begin. The rose gold hand will stay at your property hours, regardless of what number of instances you hit the pusher. Then, once you return house, and the native time would as soon as once more be your property time, a color coordinated rose gold pusher inside the crown will reset the show – resetting the white rhodium-plated 18k gold hand to catch up, or return house above the place of the rose gold hand, hiding the rose gold hand beneath it as soon as once more.

The incorporation of rose gold just isn’t a mere play for a pop of color. Quite, its heat hue represents the heat of house, and this hidden hand and crown pusher share rose gold as a cloth to point how they’re each tied to this performance and illustration or return to house. Name it romantic – I name it considerate design that showcases sensible magnificence.

Secondly, what’s non-public luxurious?

The second, extra philosophical component to grasp is the idea of personal luxurious. Non-public luxurious, briefly, and in Parmigiani Fleurier CEO Guido Terreni’s personal phrases because it pertains to his model’s watches, are timepieces which can be for the wearer’s personal pleasure and schooling. Regardless of increasingly more buzz surrounding the model inside the watch amassing area of interest, the target is a watch that, till checked out up shut whereas in your wrist and understood technically, largely flies beneath the radar. To not be peacocked or flexed, however adored strictly by these prepared to traverse and take within the wealthy layers of design intent and uncover Parmigiani’s mastery of watchmaking.

For instance, the hand-performed barleycorn guilloche is executed in a a lot finer and smaller sample that’s extra understated and solely reveals itself beneath direct gentle seen up shut. The Parmigiani Fleurier brand, revamped to its PF emblem, refuses to spell out its maker and additional muddle the dial’s meticulously chosen color and complicated texture sample. The truth is, this elliptical seal is borrowed from the seal beforehand solely discovered engraved on the floor of the model’s actions, bringing a hidden component to the forefront to create extra of a refined nod to the maker. Why spell it out if it’s only for you, proper?

The decision

Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF GMT Rattrapante Verzasca, or any Tonda PF GMT Rattrapante, is a watch (and model) that doesn’t search to brag about itself nor beg for consideration. It’s if-you-know-you-know and a sign you’re a part of a neighborhood way more with the nice watchmaking behind the watch than the hype or superficiality generated by its branding. That being stated, being continuously surrounded by watch nerds who get it, and are excited to see the watch on my wrist, I might be mendacity if I stated I didn’t benefit from the reactions I get from individuals once they see me sporting mine. However, once more, that is strictly inside the neighborhood.

Nearly all of time, say when I’m ready for a lightweight to alter on the nook of a crowded sidewalk, and I pop the be careful from beneath my sleeve to look down on the dial and examine the time, I do know it’s all only for me, hidden in plain sight, and assume to myself if solely these round me knew what I used to be fortunate to have on my wrist.

Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF GMT Rattrapante Verzasca pricing and availability

The Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF GMT Rattrapante is obtainable now for buy. Value: US$31,100