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If you don’t get what you’re looking at, don’t worry. You’re not alone — in fact, that’s sort of the point. A quick glance at the new L’Armoriale Répétition Mystérieuse is more likely to incite questions than offer answers, but the latest masterpiece from Parmigiani Fleurier, timed to release last week in time for founder Michel Parmigiani’s birthday, presents us with a watch unlike anything we’ve seen from the brand in recent years.
The general architecture of the watch will be familiar to those conversant in Parmigiani’s chosen language — the straight squared-off lugs and pastel pallet are reminiscent of the Toric watches released earlier this year — but it won’t take long to realize that there’s something fairly significant missing from the celebratory watch: a dial. The Armoriale Répétition Mystérieuse is also the latest entry in a series of Minute Repeater wristwatches to deliberately de-emphasize the visible display of time we’re all so used to.
Recent examples of this trick have come from H. Moser & Cie., whose Swiss Alp Watch Concept Black opted for a clean Vantablack dial with nothing but a visible tourbillon; and Biver, whose 2023 OnlyWatch entry replaced its visible dial with a beautiful scene rendered in stone marquetry. But just because we’ve seen versions of this before, doesn’t mean the impact is any lessened here. In fact, this implementation is among the best I’ve encountered, and more than holds its own, while also acting as a great ode to what is, reportedly, among Michel Parmigiani’s favorite complications.
The minute repeater here comes courtesy of a 392-piece movement designed by Renaud et Papi, the celebrated movement house that worked with everyone from Audemars Piguet and A. Lange & Söhne to Richard Mille and, well, Parmigiani Fleurier. The hand-wound movement boasts a 72-hour power reserve, mechanical silence, and cathedral gongs with highly calibrated hammers. The case itself is hollowed out and designed to act as a resonance chamber, and each Armoriale comes with a specially designed box intended to serve as a resonance amplifier made of Risoud, a particular breed of spruce often used by luthiers (makers of stringed instruments like guitars and violins).
Like the Biver watch from last year, Parmigiani’s latest horological heavyweight doesn’t totally forsake the visible display of time. Rather, it moves what would widely be considered the dial to the caseback of the watch — this contrasted with the Swiss Alp which uses a marked crown and a relative setting system to roughly set the time. On the Armoriale, the front-facing dial is replaced with a decorative green grand feu enamel disc, through which a centered medallion, surrounded by a guilloché pattern is visible. The guilloché work on this first example of the Armoriale Répétition Mystérieuse was done by Yann Von Kaenel, with enamel work by Vanessa Lecci, and hand-engraving by Eddy Jacquet.
The back of the watch reflects the front, with the same central element also present on the watch’s “secret” dial, surrounded by a distinct guilloché pattern. It is around this highly decorated disc that you’ll find the time-keeping track for the watch. That track is backed with a unique white jade from Guatemala and uses simple circular indices to track the passing time. There is no distinction in the length of the hour and minute hands here, so the designers and watchmakers at Parmigiani Fleurier have opted to differentiate the hands with rose gold letters, an H for ‘hours’ and an M for ‘minutes,’ with the two traversing the track in one another’s path.
The case of the watch, though similar to the Toric from the top down, looks wholly different from the side, with a fluted mid-case drawing direct inspiration from Greek Columns. The whole watch, in fact, takes inspiration from classical design and mathematics, in particular the brand has cited the Golden Ratio and Doric Columns as sources of influence. The case itself measures 41.6mm across and 12.65mm thick and is, in this example, rendered in white gold.
As the latest entry in Parmigiani Fleurier’s Objet D’Art series, this version of the Armoriale Répétition Mystérieuse is a piece unique, the first of five, each of which will vary in design particulars. Obviously, the watch comes from a different mold than other recent releases from Parmigiani Fleurier, but it nonetheless does a remarkable job of reminding us all of the technical heavyweight the brand can be when it wants to.
Pricing for the Armoriale Répétition Mystérieuse is available on request. Parmigiani Fleurier
