We go once more into the breach at Parmigiani Fleurier, this time as part of a guided tour with other Asian press. Our last story on this most amazing of watchmaking nodes – the brand itself is just one part of the set-up – covered all the basics of all the constituent parts of what is known as the Parmigiani Watchmaking Centre.
For this run, we are once more not visiting Atokalpa and Elwin, unfortunately, and we acknowledge that these remain significant gaps in our otherwise extensive coverage. Nevertheless, we did get an in-depth rundown on what happens at the aforementioned sites and dutifully sum it up here.
Of course, if you are already relatively familiar with Parmigiani Fleurier, or have read our story from three years ago (it lives on online), nothing has changed at all. We have made an effort to spruce things up with commentary on each of the production sites, based on what might make them valuable…
On that note, the biggest update at Parmigiani Fleurier in the last few years is the news that the entire Parmigiani Watchmaking Centre (PWC), including the brand Parmigiani Fleurier, was and might still be in search of a new owner.
Currently, the whole show is still under the stewardship of the Sandoz Family Foundation. This news (still) offers us another angle to present the information about PWC in a different light, and that is just what we have done.
We begin therefore with the very short list of what Parmigiani Fleurier, which we might use interchangeably with PWC, cannot do. It is really just five items… Parmigiani Fleurier does not make sapphire crystals, synthetic rubies, leather straps, bracelets and mainsprings.
Given that the brand is going great guns with sales of the Tonda PF, which Bloomberg says accounted for an incredible 98 percent of the brand’s sales in 2023, we imagine that plans must be afoot to add bracelet production to the capabilities of Les Artisans Boitiers, or else make a strategic acquisition. The short of it is that there is nothing to report, yet, and nothing rises above the level of rank speculation.
A Foundation In Restoration
The story of Parmigiani Fleurier is inextricably linked to its founder, Michel Parmigiani. In the heart of the Quartz Crisis of the 1970s, when the Swiss watch industry was wobbling precariously, Michel (whom we address by his first name for clarity) established a workshop dedicated to the near-lost art of restoring antique timepieces.
His extraordinary talent for breathing life back into historic
Read more from original article, all rights reserved Parmigiani Fleurier Rewards a Closer Look
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