SJX Watches
Parmigiani’s Carillon Tourbillon Caps Three Decades
Parmigiani Fleurier introduces the Carillon Tourbillon to mark three decades of the brand, and to celebrate how it all began — by restoring antiques. Inspired by an early 19th-century watch founder Michel Parmigiani brought back to life decades ago, the watch repeats the minutes on four serpentine gongs with exposed repeater work, and a tourbillon, and somehow manages to fit 12 days of power reserve into a case that’s just 41.6 mm in diameter and 12.6 mm thick. Initial thoughts My first thought on seeing the movement was that it looked like something from the early 19th century, with exposed repeater work and serpentine gongs. That was, of course, the intent. In 1980, Michel Parmigiani became a steward of Maurice Yves Sandoz’s collection of antique watches and automata. There he worked on a wandering hours quarter repeater signed Perrin Frères, which inspired the present watch. The Perrin Frères repeater that inspired the Carillon Tourbillon. Image – Parmigiani Fleurier Modern collectors have relatively little interest in this genre, and a nearly identical watch — this time signed Vaucher Frères, the firm after which the modern Vaucher company is named — sold for only CHF21,000 at Christie’s two years ago. But the watch’s esoteric design and unique story made it ripe for revival. But of course it’s not an exact replica. This modern homage is a keyless winding lever watch, while the inspiration was key wind with a cylinder escapement. As a pleasant surp...
