Sartorial & Skeletonized

The new Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Skeleton grows the hit luxury sports watch collection and gives a revered but old-fashioned technique a fresh new look.

- Bilal Khan

Under Guido Terreni, Parmigiani Fleurier has made brisk strides from a niche, slightly patrician enthusiast brand to one of the most interesting and dynamic names out there with the Tonda PF collection. Terreni had already demonstrated his talent at Bulgari with the Octo Finissimo, a collection that would cement the reputation of the brand as a major disruptor in the industry. At the helm of Parmigiani since early 2021, Terreni has quickly taken advantage of the brand's potent vertical manufacturing capabilities, and the result is a hit.

The appeal of the Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF is apparent. A sports watch on bracelet with top-notch finishes, excellent in-house movements and particularly impressive attention paid to detail: In a market starved for precisely this type of product, the Tonda PF has done nothing short of transforming the brand. The collection debuted with a time-only micro-rotor model, a chronograph, an annual calendar and a split-seconds chronograph. This year at Watches & Wonders Geneva 2022, we saw the release of the second batch of

Tonda PF watches. While the GMT Rattrapante deservedly got the most attention for its novel application of a split-seconds mechanism to a GMT complication, I found myself just as enamored with the pair of Tonda PF Skeleton watches.

I recently spent just shy of a week with the red-gold iteration of the Tonda PF Skeleton and walked away impressed - if not also relieved at no longer having to worry about scratching a nearly six-figure watch. Indeed, I'm impressed at how successfully the Tonda PF collection has matured in just a couple of years under Mr. Terreni's stewardship but also at the immaculate design, execution and watchmaking on display here.