The Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda Metrgraphe is part of the Métro collection. The names that Parmigiani gives to its watches are often rather unusual (different to the long succession of descriptive words that many brands use, such as “Master Ultra Thin Minute Repeater Flying Tourbillon”), and “Metrographe” was coined to give the watch an urban, metropolitan, youthful connotation. The case, 40 mm in diameter, 11.7 mm thick, with a water resistance of 3 bar/30 metres, is very distinctive, above all in the version with a steel bracelet, with its sharp taper that enhances the circular shape of the dial. It is asymmetric in two ways: on the left hand side, the two lugs have a greater separation, while on the right-hand side, the lugs extend close to the crown, enveloping the pushers. The dial is also asymmetric, as a result of the subdials for chronograph minutes and hours, which form an inclined figure of eight.
In the black-dial version, the two subdials are edged in SuperLuminova, giving the watch extra character in low light conditions.
The steel bracelet incorporates Michel Parmigiani’s love of proportions, and in particular the geometry of the Golden Mean that he applies to the section of the bracelet links. This requires a lot of careful design and engineering, but creates comfort and visual interest.
The watches are also available with leather straps, made by Hermès, with contrasting polished edges. Different colours are available: caramel-coloured strap with red edging, black with white edging, étoupe with grey edging.
PF315 movement
The watch has the self-winding PF315 movement, with a power reserve of 42 hours provided by two barrels connected in series. The system is designed to optimize the constancy of power supplied to the movement rather than increasing power reserve. The calibre runs at 4 Hertz (28,800 vibrations per hour), and has 351 components and 46 jewels. It is based on the Parmigiani Fleurier PF331, with a Dubois-Depraz chronograph module. .
Price of the Tonda Metrographe
There are several references available, with different dial and strap colours, with the possibility of opting for a steel bracelet. The Tonda Metrographe watches cost from around 12,500 Swiss francs, about US$12,200. In the three images below, from top, PFC274-0000600-B33002 (blue dial), PFC274-0001401-HE1442 (black dial), PFC274-0002400-HE6042
