Parmigiani Fleurier SA () is a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

brand of luxury

watchmaker A watchmaker is an artisan who makes and repairs watches. Since a majority of watches are now factory-made, most modern watchmakers only repair watches. However, originally they were master craftsmen who built watches, including all their par ...

s founded in 1996 in

Fleurier Fleurier was a municipality in the district of Val-de-Travers in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. On 1 January 2009, the former municipalities of Boveresse, Buttes, Couvet, Fleurier, Les Bayards, Môtiers, Noiraigue, Saint-Sulpice and ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, by Michel Parmigiani. In 2006, Parmigiani produced the Bugatti 370, a driving watch which won the 2006 "Watch of the Year Award" from the

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese press, supposedly based on the

Bugatti Veyron The Bugatti Veyron EB 16.4 is a mid-engine sports car, designed and developed in Germany by the Volkswagen Group and Bugatti and manufactured in Molsheim, France, by French automobile manufacturer Bugatti. It was named after the racing driver Pie ...

supercar. The company is owned by the

Sandoz Novartis AG is a Swiss-American multinational pharmaceutical corporation based in Basel, Switzerland and Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States (global research).name="novartis.com">https://www.novartis.com/research-development/research-loc ...

Family Foundation. Guido Terreni is the CEO of the company since January 2021.

History

Parmigiani Fleurier was started in 1996 in

Val-de-Travers Val-de-Travers is a municipality in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. It was created on 1 January 2009, when the former municipalities of Boveresse, Buttes, Couvet, Fleurier, Les Bayards, Môtiers, Noiraigue, Saint-Sulpice and Travers ...

. Founder Michel Parmigiani had conceived the brand as far back as 1976 through his work restoring watchmaking artifacts and his detailed knowledge of historical mechanical clocks and watches. The Parmigiani restoration workshop worked with the Sandoz family to restore the collection of the Room Maurice Yves Sandoz of the Musée d’Horlogerie du Locle, which eventually led to the creation of the Parmigiani Fleurier company owned by the Sandoz Foundation. In 2016, Parmigiani Fleurier unveiled the ''Hippologia'', a 55kg, oval-shaped table clock covered in a foil of white gold and elaborated with the French glassmaker

Lalique Lalique is a French glassmaker, founded by renowned glassmaker and jeweller René Lalique in 1888. Lalique is best known for producing glass art, including perfume bottles, vases, and hood ornaments during the early twentieth century. Following t ...

. In December 2020, Parmigiani Fleurier inked a partnership with

Giorgio Armani Giorgio Armani (; born 11 July 1934) is an Italian fashion designer. He first gained notoriety working for Cerruti and then for many others, including Allegri, Bagutta and Hilton. He formed his company, Armani, in 1975, which eventually expande ...

to create the Giorgio Armani Fine Watches collection which was supposed to be launched by the end of 2021. In January 2021, Guido Terrni replaced Davide Traxler as CEO of the company.

Watches

Parmigiani carries a men's line of watches, and a line that caters specifically to women. All Parmigiani Fleurier watches are hand-made, taking at least four hundred hours to put together; they are constructed with only

precious metal Precious metals are rare, naturally occurring metallic chemical elements of high economic value. Chemically, the precious metals tend to be less reactive than most elements (see noble metal). They are usually ductile and have a high lustre. ...

s and precious or semi-precious stones. In order to create exclusivity, only a few thousand pieces are produced every year. Their watch lines include the Toric, Forma (renamed Kalpa) and the single watch, the Bugatti 370. In 2006, the Bugatti 370 was awarded the "Watch of the Year" award by the Japanese Press. The watch is a driving watch based on the

supercar A supercar – also called exotic car – is a loosely defined description of street-legal, high-performance sports cars. Since the 2010s, the term hypercar has come into use for the highest performing supercars. Supercars commonly serve as t ...

. It is designed to look like a transversal engine, and is mounted in 18 carat

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

. In order to make it readable while driving, the face of the watch has been placed in a vertical position on the case's front. The first Bugatti watch was given to car enthusiast

Ralph Lauren Ralph Lauren, ( ; ; born October 14, 1939) is an American fashion designer, philanthropist, and billionaire businessman, best known for the Ralph Lauren Corporation, a global multibillion-dollar enterprise. He has become well known for his co ...

. Only one hundred and fifty of the watches will be made each year, fifty of each of the three dial colors available. The watch will cost

USD$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

200,000. In 2009, Parmigiani Fleurier and Pershing, the Italian Yacht Company announced that they will be offering the first ever line of Pershing Aquatic sport watches. The watch will be available in two different lines - the limited edition one-one-five, and the Pershing Chronographs collection. The watch is available with a rubber strap or steel bracelet, and is water resistant up to 200 metres.

Senfine concept

In 2016, Parmigiani-Fleurier presents the Senfine concept housing a new escapement taking advantage of the properties of silicon flat springs. The revolutionary concept uses an oscillator with high frequency and low amplitude for enhanced precision and power reserve.Monochrome-watches
"The evolution of the escapement and recent innovations"
February 2016

References

External links

An interview
with founder Michel Parmigiani
Evolution of the escapement
''Monochrome-watches, Xavier Markl'', February 2016 {{Authority control Watch manufacturing companies of Switzerland Swiss watch brands Design companies established in 1975 Manufacturing companies established in 1975 Swiss companies established in 1975 Privately held companies of Switzerland Companies based in the canton of Neuchâtel

History

Watches

Senfine concept

See also

References

External links