Parmigiani Fleurier’s Rosa Celeste: Aesthetic Refinement and Horological Substance

 

By Nancy Olson

 

Michel Parmigiani’s early practice in the restoration of important timepieces has served him well throughout his watchmaking career, evident in the exceptional authenticity of his brand, Parmigiani Fleurier. Thus, the new La Rosa Celeste watch, with its richly voiced cathedral gong minute repeater and blue grand feu enamel dial, is as much a part of the man as it is an important chapter in the chronicle of watchmaking. And adding to its singular mystique, the watch was introduced on December 2—the founder’s birthday.

 

But the new timepiece’s origin story actually began much earlier. Parmigiani Fleurier launched a remarkable one-of-a-kind pocket watch called La Rose Carrée in honor of the 25^th anniversary of the Swiss company’s birth. It was based on a Louis-Elysée Piguet caliber with grand sonnerie, entirely restored in the Parmigiani workshops in Fleurier. Soon thereafter it evolved into the imagining of an exclusive collection of five unique minute repeater timepieces, Les Roses Carrées, of which La Rosa Celeste is a part.

Parmigiani Fleurier La Rosa Celeste

The 42mm white gold case, cut from white gold blocks, is hand-engraved with the “La Rose Carrée” motif, and it is fitted with a hand-engraved hunter caseback, decorated, like the dial, with blue grand feu enamel and articulated by a hinge at 2 o’clock. Its interior engraving reads, “Rosa Celeste,” along with Michel Parmigiani’s signature and the PF seal.

The caseback is engraved with the serial number and “Pièce Unique.” The bezel, lugs and case band all feature the “La Rose Carrée”—square rose—motif, which is nearly as labor intensive as it is mesmerizing. The crown is fitted with a cabochon-cut natural sapphire.

The dial is a piece of art in itself, its flawless hand engraving and enameling complemented by the gleam of applied 18-karat gold indices that are rhodium plated. The delta-shaped hands are also rhodium-plated18-karat gold, skeletonized to further draw attention to the landscape of blue beneath.

The handsomeness of the watch’s exterior is matched by the inimitable caliber within, the manually wound PF355, with a minute repeater on cathedral gongs and a continuous chiming sequence. It, too, is an enchanting example of fine watchmaking and purposeful decoration, and its features include Côtes de Genève engraving, open-worked bridges, hand beveling and circular graining. It operates at a frequency of 21,600 Vph and offers a power reserve of 72 hours.

The watch is fitted on a blue alligator leather strap that perfectly accessorizes the blue grand feu enamel that exemplifies the watch’s décor. And it, too, has been considered with the utmost attention: it is double-sided and expertly hand-stitched. Its pin buckle is 18-karat white gold, hand engraved—of course—with the rose pattern.