Parmigiani Unveil L’Armoriale Répétition Mystérieuse Minute Repeater Piece Unique

Minute Repeater watches are regarded as among the most prestigious, one of the three major complications. They make use of exquisitely produced hammers and gongs inside their movements to give auditory voice to the time, allowing the wearer to tell the time without so much as a glance at their wrist. In fact, Parmigiani’s latest piece unique, the L’Armoriale Répétition Mystérieuse makes use of this fact to do away with a conventional dial altogether.

This is the first in a series of five unique minute repeaters that Parmigiani are creating, each crafted with individual and striking aesthetics. For this edition the core concept is the golden ratio, which is why the Grand Feu enamel display features a pinecone pattern that follows the ratio. Michel Parmigiani cites pinecones as a key piece of inspiration for him, as they are the perfect meshing of the Fibonacci sequence with the golden ration and reveal the hidden beaty of mathematics visible in nature.

For a similar reason the brand new 42mm white gold case features a caseband decorated with Doric columns. The Parthenon in Athens is an architectural marvel that makes use of Doric columns too and which some believe was constructed using the golden ratio. Hence, the inclusion of these shapes on the watch brings together the achievements of nature and the achievements of man in a single objet d’art. The same concept informed the relaunch of the Toric earlier in the year.

Turning the Parmigiani L’Armoriale Répétition Mystérieuse over to view the caseback reveals that there actually is a time display after all, it’s simply hidden on the reverse of the watch instead of the dial. Looking at this rear dial, it has a central disk of white jade following a similar guilloché style to the main enamel dial. Around the periphery is a time scale with dot hour markers for hours and minutes. The hands themselves are presented as floating H and M letters for the Hours and Minutes.

However, while the dial, case and rear time display are all superb, the killer feature of this watch is of course the movement inside. It’s the PF355, a manual winding calibre created by  Renaud Papi. It has a 72-hour power reserve and is equipped with the flagship minute repeater complication. In order to ensure a high quality of sound it uses oversize cathedral gongs that wrap around the movement almost twice, creating a deep, rich sound. That sound is further boosted by the resonance chambers built into the case.

As a fun touch, the Parmigiani L’Armoriale Répétition Mystérieuse is provided with a custom watch display box. It’s made from Risoud spruce, a popular luthier’s material that has great acoustic properties. Plus, the unique shape means that depending where you position the watch, there are subtle shifts in the sound it creates, allowing you to tailor the auditory experience even further.

More details at Parmigiani Fleurier.

​Oracle Time 

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