Parmigiani Toric Perpetual Calendar Watch Review

Last year, after consolidating their collection to the Tonda PF and not much else, Fleurier-based independent watchmaker Parmigiani reintroduced the Toric, a revamped version of their first ever watch. And it was perfect. True to Michel Parmigiani’s obsession with the golden ratio of mathematical beauty, it brought back the Grecian column-esque bezel in a slightly off-kilter sage green. Now, Parmigiani is properly ramping up the Toric collection for Watches & Wonders 2025 with the new Toric Quantième Perpétuel – or Parmigiani Toric Perpetual Calendar to you and me – a watch that proves less is more.

The most striking thing about the new watch is just how minimal it is. Other than the Patek Phillipe in-line calendar, I’ve not really seen any perpetual calendars quite this reserved, with all the information distilled across two relatively small subdials. On the left-hand subdial, the outer ring shows the date while the inner ring shows the day. On the other side, you have the month and the leap year.

You’ll notice that there’s no year, which might disqualify it as a genuine perpetual calendar for some people, but if you need your watch handy to remember what year it is, you probably have bigger problems at hand. As long as it knows which Februarys to add a day to, it’s covered. More importantly, the streamlining of the information across those two subdials gives the grained dial much more room to breathe. That space is emphasised by incredibly sharp, elegant hands across the board and diminutive applied hour markers.

Speaking of the dial, it’s available in two versions, Morning Blue, which offers a sky-blue dial in a platinum case, and golden hour which is in rose gold monochrome. Both are gorgeous, but if I had to be pinned down, I’d have to opt for the-all gold version, which feels more glamorously vintage. I particularly like that it matches the movement, which also happens to be made from rose gold.

The PF733 calibre manual-wind movement is a beauty – and not just for the material. Côtes de Fleurier (Parmigiani’s hometown specific geometric guilloche), a sand-blasted mainplate and no rotor to get in the way make it an absolute stunner. Though aside from the finishing, the reverse is also as restrained as the dial, with nothing showing through but the barrels and balance. It’s almost as fantastic technically, with a 60-hour power reserve and no need to adjust every four years.

On the wrist the 40.6mm case has some serious presence and doesn’t wear too large. Although because the dial is so open and because of the Toric’s ornately stepped bezel, it looks slightly larger than it actually is. Could they have made it bigger for a touch more legibility? Sure. Should they have? Not at all. At 10.9mm thick, it’s also reassuringly svelte, perfect for a flash of horological flexing from under a shirtsleeve.

Honestly, perpetual calendars are starting to become as common as tourbillons, which yes shows a healthy appetite for the pricey grand complication but means that it’s started to lose some of its glamour. The Toric Perpetual Calendar is one of the few recent perpetual calendars I genuinely love. It’s just a shame that with 50 of each version available and a price tag of CHF 92,000 (around £80,500) in platinum or CHF 85,000 (around £74,000), I’ll need to keep dreaming. Perhaps I can afford the new Frederique Constant Perpetual Calendar instead.

More details at Parmigiani Fleurier.

​Oracle Time 

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