Michel Parmigiani
Ovale Pantographe
Speedmaster
Moonphase
Time is Precious
It’s simple — complications in today’s timepieces are
highly desirable by tony whitney
The date. A chronograph. Moon phase. World time. Time in two zones. A chime to tell
time in the dark. In the world of fine mechanical watches, features beyond simply the
time of day are called “complications.” Since high-end watches are invariably handmade, such features are challenging to produce and take a huge amount of skill to
assemble. The more complications, the higher the price; a big-name watch with multiple complications can cost several hundred thousand dollars.
The work of Michel Parmigiani, one of the
industry’s most respected watchmakers, is
typified by the Ovale Pantographe. The watch
has an oval face and hands that intriguingly
telescope to follow the hour numbers accurately. Inspired by a 200-year-old pocket watch
he had restored, Parmigiani decided to apply
the technique to a modern timepiece. Though
the hands look graceful and simplistic, it takes
24 parts to create each pair and the result is a
truly masterful watch, almost certainly unique
in the fine-watch industry. The movement is
30
E SS E N T I A L VA N CO U V ER 20 16 / 1 7
no less sophisticated, with every component
superbly crafted and assembled with the
utmost precision. Like all Parmigiani Fleurier
watches, the strap is specially produced for the
company by Hermès.
Moon phases are popular complications for
high-ticket watches and perhaps it’s surprising
that Omega, which made the first watch used
on the moon, had never incorporated one into
its Speedmaster range — until the 2016 Basel
watch fair, Baselworld, in Switzerland. As one
might expect, the tiny moon is surprisingly