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SIHH preview - Parmigiani Fleurier and Pomellato

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December 2013


Parmigiani Fleurier redefines the realm of ladies’ watches with its new partnership with Pomellato, the prestigious Italian jeweller.

Combining the exceptional expertise of both companies, this alliance brings together the best attributes of both partners to offer the perfect symbiosis of high-quality craftsmanship from the worlds of jewellery and watchmaking.

Parmigiani Fleurier and Pomellato make a very logical pairing, considering that the paths of both companies were forged off the beaten track with a similar spirit of reform.

Pomellato was established in Milan in 1967 at a very exciting point in history. The world of jewellery, which historically had been very conservative, focused essentially on the monetary value of items of jewellery which were considered no more than status symbols and which were mostly confined to a safe. Pomellato was bold enough to challenge this approach by introducing to the jewellery world the concept of “prêt-à-porter” which revolutionised the world of fashion at the time. Items of jewellery immediately became attractive accessories that were cherished, to be worn every day and matched with outfits, according to one’s mood or personality. Challenging deep-rooted conservative mentalities, Pomellato declared jewellery “too sexy to be in a safe”, and met with dazzling success. Over time, Pomellato’s collections have grown, following fashions and trends, to create a heritage of styles with an immediately recognisable appeal. Pomellato is a pioneer, setting trends that were revolutionary at the time and which are now universally followed.

The other side of the story of this partnership began when Parmigiani Fleurier was founded in Val-de-Travers in Neuchâtel in 1996. Although the context, terms and challenges were different to those experienced by Pomellato, Parmigiani Fleurier showed the same courage in breaking new ground. There was a strong trend in the cutting-edge watchmaking world toward buying finished movements or components from third-party companies, then decorating these and encasing them in standard cases, beneath dials bearing the colours of the brand. With a few exceptions, watchmaking as it was commonly practised was thus reduced to design work and strictly aesthetic research. The watchmakers’ true art, the work which formed the foundation of the profession, was pushed to the background and relegated into the hands of a few companies providing the watch mechanisms. Parmigiani Fleurier abandoned this approach and restored the watchmaker’s expertise to its rightful place as the foundation of its brand. The process was twofold.

Firstly, Parmigiani Fleurier placed watchmaking knowledge at the heart of its approach in the art of restoration in which it excels. Michel Parmigiani, the company’s founder, is a genius restorer and his vast experience helped unlock the secrets of centuries of watchmaking expertise, knowledge that he cultivates and builds upon tirelessly in his current creations. Secondly, Parmigiani Fleurier chose the arduous but necessary path of the complete manufacture. Thanks to the financial support of the Sandoz Family Foundation, in less than ten years, one after another, the various manufactures that make up the current watchmaking centre were acquired, or sometimes created from scratch, to achieve a perfectly integrated centre of expertise.

Thus Parmigiani Fleurier chose the challenging and difficult path of authentic watchmaking without pretence, swimming against the tide of convention, at a considerable cost. The brand now controls the entire production process of each watch, from its most minute components to its most complex gears; from the creative design of a watch on paper, to the assembly and decoration of the result brought to life.

This is a very important point which Parmigiani Fleurier and Pomellato have in common: the Italian jeweller is the only jewellery brand in the world with its own manufacture connected to its headquarters by a single bridge. Now there is a unique new bridge between Milan and the Neuchâtel mountains. Nowadays, Parmigiani Fleurier and Pomellato have much in common: both have full control over their business, they share the same exacting standards of quality with attention paid to every detail and, lastly, they share this freedom of unbridled creativity which is defined - but never confined - by a respect for watchmaking or jewellery making traditions.

The Tonda Pomellato
The alliance of these two companies from Fleurier and Milan finds concrete expression in a pure and elegant ladies’ watch by Parmigiani Fleurier illuminated by a dial with the Pomellato signature. The Tonda Pomellato is exclusively available in rose gold; the ultimate embodiment of femininity and the signature material of the Milanese jeweller, rose gold also features in the redesigned hands and indices. This new line is available in four dial exteriors with a precision setting adorning each version.

Tonda Pomellato rose gold set graphite by Parmigiani Fleurier
Tonda Pomellato rose gold set graphite by Parmigiani Fleurier

The Arabesque-inspired Tonda Pomellato
Three of the four Tonda Pomellato versions were inspired by Pomellato’s “Arabesque” collection, characterised by a pattern of openings in rose gold which give way to transparent elements with coloured precious stones. To capture the arabesque and reproduce the delicate interplay of light and dark - “chiaroscuro” - on a watch which is, by definition, flat and opaque, all the subtle nuances had to be created through the dial work. Quadrance et Habillage, the watchmaking centre’s specialised manufacture, reproduced the arabesque pattern in two distinct treatment steps with a technique known as “épargnage” (protection) in which a protective coating is applied. First, the whole dial receives an opaline surface treatment of great brilliance. The next step is to superimpose a silkscreen printed transfer which covers the opaline according to the voluted arabesque pattern. A second sand-blasting treatment is then applied, which adheres to all the surfaces not covered by the transfer. After these processes, the areas that the transfer has “protected” – as the name of the technique suggests – present an opaline surface while the second treatment gives the rest a sand-blasted effect. Thanks to Quadrance et Habillage’s accomplished feat, the resulting arabesque pattern sparkles brilliantly even though it is perfectly smooth, demonstrating the same play of light which Pomellato creates by superimposing gold and stone. The Arabesque-inspired Tonda Pomellato is available in shades of beige, with or without stone setting, and in shades of graphite with a setting on the four lugs.

Tonda Pomellato rose gold set turquoise by Parmigiani Fleurier
Tonda Pomellato rose gold set turquoise by Parmigiani Fleurier

The Capri-inspired Tonda Pomellato
The last of the four Tonda Pomellato watches, inspired by the Italian jeweller’s Capri collection, pays homage to the colours of the Mediterranean, characteristic of this island paradise off the coast of Naples. Its most iconic colour, turquoise, is paired in the jewellery with rock crystal to achieve a transparent effect evocative of the azure depths of the Blue Grotto. The Capri-inspired Tonda Pomellato picks up this very detail in its dial, which is comprised of an exquisite turquoise disc. Cutting the turquoise stone was a technical challenge as an even surface had to be found which did not exhibit the stone’s natural roughness. The turquoise blue dial is exquisitely radiant at the centre of the “full set” case – this means that the case is set with diamonds around the bezel as well as on the lugs. In this way, the watch plays on the same contrast between light and opacity which marked the success of Pomellato’s Capri jewellery.