The Toric in platinum, and a movement worth turning over
By Marco Bellini, Zurich · · Parmigiani Fleurier
The Toric goes back to the first years of Parmigiani Fleurier in the 1990s, and the knurled bezel is still the thing you recognise across a room. The new Petite Seconde puts it in platinum 950 with a dial Parmigiani calls Morning Blue.
Case: 40.6 mm, 8.8 mm thick. Polished platinum with the knurled bezel. Water resistance 30 m. Strap in grey nubuck alligator with a platinum pin buckle. Price CHF 56,500.
The dial is 18k white gold, hand-grained, in a pale, slightly dusty blue. Hours, minutes, small seconds. Nothing else. Good.
Movement first, as always. The PF780 is hand-wound, with a 60-hour reserve and a movement in rose gold decorated with Côtes de Fleurier. That is Parmigiani's own variant of Geneva stripes, wider and slightly curved. Hand-wound is the correct choice here. No rotor covers the bridges, the case stays slim, and the owner gets the small daily ritual of winding, which on a watch like this is part of the point.
The frequency is published inconsistently, 28,000 in one place and 28,800 in another, which is a strange thing to be vague about at this level. Parmigiani should fix its own spec sheet.
There is a quiet logic in the range. The Tonda PF Micro-Rotor is the integrated sports watch, the modern product. The Toric is the classical dress watch, closer to what Parmigiani built his reputation on: restoration, traditional finishing, correct proportions.
Now, the money. CHF 56,500 for a time-only watch with small seconds. Most of that is the platinum and the name. A comparable hand-wound movement with the same finishing in white gold would be a good deal cheaper, and I am not convinced platinum adds anything here except weight and a number on the invoice. Platinum and a pale blue dial is a beautiful pairing, certo. It is also a very expensive one.
Verdict: a serious, well-made watch, priced for people who have already decided.
Marco Bellini is a pen name of The Watch Quest editorial team. Opinions are based on the published specs, the brand's own information and the watch's reputation, not a long-term test.