Around the World: Parmigiani Restores History

In the Parmigiani workshops in Fleurier, amazing restoration work takes place.  Sometimes that work is on Parmigiani watches or other brands, on very old clocks and specialty pieces. Today, when I visited the private workshops, I was fortunate enough to get a glimpse of the watchmakers restoring several important 1800’s pieces. One they had just completed was an early 19th century piece from the Patek Philippe Museum – though not a Patek watch. The watch is a jeweled and enamel pistol, circa 1810, complete with singing automated bird. The bird was no longer working. Restoring the piece took Parmigiani’s watchmakers approximately 1,500 hours, or a solid year to complete.  The young watchmaker, Raoul Pages, who worked on the piece under the direction of Michel Parmigiani, said he was very happy when it was done and he could show it in all its beauty in working order. Here is a video of the alluring singing bird pistol watch as seen in the restoration room.