Plain sailing Parmigiani fleurier
The can-do spirit and adventure of yachting inspires Swiss watchmaker's latest timepieces
Parmigiani Fleurier's new collections for 2008 are influenced by two famous people - Swiss sailor Bernard Stamm and Italian entrepreneur Tilli Antonelli, president of Pershing, a company which builds luxury yachts.
Stamm is the ambassador for the brand's Kalpa Hemispheres collection of two handmade time zone watches specially designed for travellers. Stamm's dogged determination in sailing has enabled him to enjoy many adventures - and victories. Parmigiani shares this spirit, successfully creating movements and looking for innovative technologies. And both share the same belief of 'doing it yourself'. Stamm builds his own yachts while the movement for the Kalpa Hemispheres is completely manufactured in-house and the watch is handmade.
Stamm advocates the joys of travelling. Speaking at this year's Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie held in Geneva, he said: 'You don't know what's going on in the world when you sail across ocean after ocean for three months and challenge the rough weather and the sea. But in return, you enjoy the beauty of nature.'
A significant characteristic of the Kalpa Hemispheres is that its second time zone is accurate - a rare achievement in the industry. It requires highly sophisticated skills to produce and assemble the various parts to activate all the complicated functions. The second time zone counter appears at 12 o'clock. A small day and night indicator for the second time zone is positioned at 1o'clock. Both hour, minute, small seconds and the 'am' and 'pm' indicators for the local time zone are at 6o'clock.
The large calendar window at 9o'clock linking to the local time has a rotating disc under the dial. To help the owner to change the time for his destination, the settings for the two time zones operate separately. One crown is used for setting the time zones; another is for adjusting local time and winding the movement.
The Kalpa Hemispheres is available in either steel or 18-carat pink gold, and comes in blue, silver, graphite or red.
The partnership between Parmigiani and Antonelli gave birth to a new collection of sporty watches. The collaboration came about when Antonelli and Parmigiani president and master watchmaker Michel Parmigiani discovered that they shared a common philosophy: high performance.
The first collection of Pershing chronographs is called the One-One-Five after Pershing's largest vessel which measures 115 feet. Apart from the hours, minutes and seconds, the watch has a 12-hour counter, a 30-minute counter and a large date window. The tachometer scale is displayed on the ring. The One-One-Five comes in either silver or tan and rose gold or palladium.
While Parmigiani is selective about the quality of the materials it uses for its watches, Pershing is equally rigorous with the wood and leather used in its yachts and interior designs.
The One-One-Five chronograph looks like the watches in the Kalpa collection with a sturdy round case that blends well with the rubber strap. Some of Kalpa's distinguished features include its loops and full curves. Only 115 of each of the two models has been made, and the watches are water resistant to 200 metres.
The second collection of Pershing chronographs features four different dial colours. The chronographs, made in steel, are inspired by the silvery hulls of Pershing's yachts. A new self-winding movement has been specially developed for the chronographs which are also water resistant to 200 metres and come with a rubber strap or a steel bracelet.
