Jewellery & Watch News
With the Chinese New Year celebrations fully underway, several luxury watch brands are paying tribute to the traditional lunisolar Chinese calendar with their own special edition design. One of them is Parmigiani Fleurier, a Swiss watch brand with a proclivity for rare complications who takes their prowess with the latter to launch the world’s most complete and precise Chinese calendar watch. Meet the new Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Xiali Calendar watch…
The Chinese Calendar
Since the beginning of humankind, we have sought to understand time and attempted to organise it into our own lives. So, the universal calendar was formed allowing us to apply dates and years to set moments in time. While much of the world is set to the Gregorian calendar, naming its months and numbering the years, the Chinese calendar is different naming the lunar years and numbering the months. Because of this, the Chinese calendar is incredibly complex, taking its basis from both a solar and lunar calendar which are calculated separately and then synchronised together. This only works with the addition of an extra lunar or intercalary month which the Chinese call the 13th month. This allows the two cycles to coincide and occurs approximately every three years.
The Chinese calendar also divides the solar year into 24 terms to symbolise the agricultural calendar. The New Year appears according to detailed rules and takes the name of the month that precedes it. The calculation is incredibly complex but allows us to follow the seasons and to set the Chinese New Year at the arrival of spring, which varies between the end of January and the end of February. The names of the years are repeated on a 60 year cycle (with 2023 marked as the Year of the Water Rabbit) and the calendar including the dates, days and months is calculated on the basis of astronomical observations. Because of this, the creation of a true perpetual Chinese calendar watch is impossible… and yet the Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Xiali Calendar watch comes pretty close
“Calendars are a radiography of civilizations. It’s something magical because the calendar comes from the observation of humans as well as of nature. By observing nature, one can travel through history and trace the development of civilizations. Calendars were born from a need to understand nature’s seasons and anticipating the phenomenal of nature’s nurturing.” – Michel Parmigiani, Founder and Master Watchmaker at Parmigiani Fleurier
The Parmgiani Fleurier Tonda PF Xiali Calendar Watch
As mentioned above, creating a complete Chinese calendar watch is impossible but Parmigiani Fleurier have succeeded in condensing much of the complex information onto a single dial in the new Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Xiali Calendar watch. There are four subsidiary dials in total, each displaying their own element of the Chinese calendar. The subsidiary dial at 12 o’clock has three levels, the first noting the name of the year, the second the animal and the third the element and whether it is Yin or Yang. At 3 o’clock, you’ll find the day number and an indicator which reveals whether it is a short or long day and at 6 o’clock, there’s a classic moonphase complication. Finally, at 9 o’clock, the counter reveals the month number from 1 to 12 with an extra aperture indicating whether the thirteenth month is being featured. A final feature is included on the very edge of the dial’s circumference to show the 24 solar terms.
This mass of incredible calendar functionality relies on a brand new in-house automatic winding movement created by Parmigiani Fleurier. The Calibre PF008 housed within the Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Xiali Calendar watch is cleverly programmed to cover the Chinese calendar for 12 years via its cam system as long as the watch does not stop. If it does, the day and month indications can be adjusted using a rapid corrector in the caseband. By the end of the 12-year period, the watch has to be reset. The movement is engineered from 353 components, 42 of those being jewels, and boasts a 54 hour power reserve, frequency of 28,800vph and an openworked rose gold rotor.
The rest of the Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Xiali Calendar watch’s design maintains elements of previous Tonda PF models. The multi-level dial is adorned with rhodium-plated 18ct white gold appliqués and skeletonized hour and minute hands which sit upon a gorgeous “barley grain” guilloché pattern surface. The colour chosen for the dial is Imperial Red in honour of Chinese culture. The dial is protected beneath scratch resistant sapphire crystal glass and is encased within a 42mm stainless steel case with polished and satin-brushed finishing. There’s also a 950 platinum knurled bezel, screw in crown, exhibition case back and a 100 metre water resistant rating. Completing the Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Xiali Calendar watch is a luxurious integrated stainless steel bracelet closed by a folding buckle.
If you’d like to learn more about the Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Xiali Calendar watch and secure one of the designs for yourself, head over to the C W Sellors website here. Alternatively, get in touch with the team by calling 01335 453453 or send us a message at sales@cwsellors.com.
Specifications:
- Case Size: 42mm x 12.2mm
- Case Material: Stainless steel
- Bezel: Fixed, 950 platinum
- Glass: Sapphire crystal with anti-reflective treatment
- Crown: Screw in
- Case Back: Exhibition
- Water Resistance: 100 metres
- Movement: Calibre PF008, in-house automatic winding
- Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds, Chinese calendar with moon phase indicator mechanically programmed for a period of 12 years
- Power Reserve: 54 hours
- Jewels: 42
- Frequency: 28,800vph
- Dial: Barleycorn guilloche in dark red with 18ct gold rhodium-plated hands and appliques
- Strap: Integrated stainless steel bracelet
- Buckle: Folding
- Limited: No
- RRP: £54,360
- Reference: PFH982-1022301-100182
