NARRATIVE ARCS

Parmigiani Fleurier CEO Guido Terreni talks about the importance of watch fairs, the multibrand retail experience and the feeling of wearing an excellent timepiece

- ASHOK SOMAN

In Parmigiani Fleurier, one discovers an entirely unlikely success story; like so many of these, it appeared to happen virtually overnight yet it was decades in the making. No doubt you know that this is about the Tonda PF collection since this was the family of watches that changed the trajectory of the brand back in 2021. This much is obvious, and thus conventional wisdom also has it that the person responsible here is none other than CEO Guido Terreni. The man himself is not so quick to embrace this role in the story so far, although he certainly agrees that Parmigiani Fleurier is on the road to a brighter future. We think he deserves credit at least as the navigator but also as the architect of the narrative. 

In the most recent Morgan-Stanley report on the state of the Swiss watch industry, Parmigiani Fleurier powered into the top 50 brands (at number 46) for the first time. While this report, and others like it, are merely indicative rather than definitive, it still highlights how far the brand has come in a few short years. Back in 2020, as lockdowns were being eased here, we wrote that collectors and the community should take the trouble to reacquaint themselves with Parmigiani Fleurier. Then the firm affirmed our interest with the release of the Tonda GT Sport, by far the most handsome and commercially oriented collection to bear the Parmigiani Fleurier badge.