Guido Terreni's tenure as CEO since 2021 has transformed Parmigiani Fleurier, elevating the brand’s revenue and propelling its popularity to unprecedented levels.
We caught up with Terreni at the Parmigiani manufacture in Fleurier, where he walked us through the arduous process of creating the Toric – one of the most outstanding creations from the brand in recent years.
Excerpts from the interview:
What’s your vision for Parmigiani over the next five years?
Nobody has a crystal ball. But we have to continue creating desire because purchasing a watch is not an obligation – you don't need the luxury watch – instead, you want to please yourself, gift yourself, and indulge in something irrational, and emotional. That desire sticks to the values of the brand – understatement, historical and cultural knowledge, and craft. And this has to continue for Parmigiani. And so, the vision is to continue to find ways to please the next-gen clientele with surprising evolutions.
Tell us a bit about the inspiration behind Toric and how it came to be.
We tried to move forward with the aesthetic goals of masculine elegance. This goes back to the history of how men dressed since the Industrial Revolution. For 200 years, men were dressing the same way. Now, you have an evolution of taste, which is going towards a less formal attire. But still, you want to dress down elegantly. So what would be that watch that would accompany this evolution? First of all, you have to respect the tradition of watchmaking. Then, you have to have a style – ours is pure and minimal. But then, when you look at the finishing, it's complex and goes back to tradition. We wanted to target those dials popular in the 50s and '60s that were flat at the center and dropped towards the end. So, we reinterpreted that look by having a flat dial with a polished edge. And then you have the minute scale, which dives in a curve on the outside and the dial. Michel [Parmigiani] himself brought this back from restoration. This is rare for serial watches. We had to go back to the origin of a handmade grainy treatment – you have an abrasive substance that’s a mixture of sea salt and silver, which you brush by hand, and according to how stiff and thick the brush is, you get a thicker or thinner grain on the dial.
If we hadn’t seen the manufacturing process, we wouldn’t have thought it was done by hand.
The majority of the grain textures today are done through laser techniques. This, on the other hand, is handmade, which is extremely rare. And then you have another detail which is the strap. It's a sand gold hand-stitched nubuck alligator [strap] which is very soft and matte. There is also this handmade stitching, which goes back to Napoleon's suits. It's an aesthetic that references a sartorial approach. Then, you have the finishing on the gold called Fleurier, which Michel designed, which prevents it from aging. And, when you have a mechanical watch, you want a generous crown, and Michel always wants a pin buckle, because that way you can appreciate the movement.
