Parmigiani Fleurier Carillon Tourbillon Anniversaire: A Grande Complication in Five Pieces to Mark Thirty Years

Parmigiani Fleurier was founded in 1996 by Michel Parmigiani, a watchmaker from the Val-de-Travers trained in La Chaux-de-Fonds whose early career was built on the restoration of historic timepieces for the Sandoz Family Foundation. One of those projects, a carillon pocket watch made by Perrin Frères in the early nineteenth century, forms the direct inspiration for the Carillon Tourbillon Anniversaire, a grande complication limited to five pieces to mark the brand's thirtieth year.

A carillon repeater differs from a conventional minute repeater in the number of gongs it employs. Where a standard minute repeater uses two gongs, a carillon uses a minimum of three. The Carillon Tourbillon Anniversaire uses four: one pitched low for the hours, one pitched high for the minutes, and two tuned to produce the quarter-hour sequence. The gongs were supplied by Jämes Aubert Le Brassus SA. Four curved serpentine gongs and their hammers are visible on the dial side at roughly the nine and eleven o'clock positions, their form drawn directly from the Perrin Frères pocket watch.

The movement is the calibre PF950, a hand-wound manufacture movement with 456 components and 42 jewels, running at 21,600 vibrations per hour and with a minimum ten-day power reserve. A flying tourbillon with a sixty-second rotation and a power reserve indicator are both positioned on the caseback. The movement bridges carry mezzo vibrato engraving throughout, with hand-beveled and hand-grained finishing.

The dial is hand-hammered white gold in a color Parmigiani calls "Morning Blue," carrying no indices. The case is 41.6mm by 12.6mm in 18-karat white gold, with vertical gadroons on the case middle referencing the classical column forms in Parmigiani's case architecture. An Akoya Grey hand-stitched alligator leather strap with an 18-karat white gold pin buckle completes the piece.

Reference PFH996-2010001-300181 is priced at CHF 490,000, limited to five pieces.

parmigiani.com