Parmigiani Fleurier is known for its meticulous craftsmanship, technical innovation and nature-inspired aesthetic. To celebrate its founder, the maison created La Ravenale – a pocket watch that exhibits the brand’s commitment to the art of horology.
Michel Parmigiani founded Parmigiani Fleurier and every year the brand celebrates his legacy not with words but with creations. To honour his 75th birthday, the maison unveiled La Ravenale, a singular Objet d’Art where restoration, artistic craft and mechanical purity meet.
La Ravenale is a pocket watch conceived as a dialogue between nature’s geometry and the highest expressions of horological finesse. At its core lies a restored minute repeater calibre from the 1920s, a mechanical voice reborn through the maison’s mastery of restoration. The name derives from the Ravenala Madagascariensis tree, also known as Madagascar’s Traveller’s Palm, whose perfect fan symmetry follows the laws of the Golden Ratio.
To Michel Parmigiani, natural forms reveal an underlying order. This concept is featured in the engraving that animates the case, dial and bridges, as well as the opal-and-jade marquetry adorning the caseback. This composition balances reflection and stillness, sky and earth.
The calibre within La Ravenale is an ultra-thin minute repeater, with central hours and minutes and a small seconds at six o’clock. Restored entirely by the maison’s Atelier de Restauration, it now sings again with crystalline resonance – its chime clear, balanced and musical. On demand, the watch strikes the hours, quarters and minutes with two distinct tones: a low note for the hours, a high note for the minutes and a blend of both for the quarters. Two precisely tuned gongs give the timepiece its acoustic identity, carefully refined to regain the clarity and balance of its original voice.
The bridges on the visible side have been engraved by hand with the palm motif, echoing the theme of the piece and linking mechanical construction to organic geometry. Two additional bridges, hidden beneath the dial, are engraved in the same spirit – a gesture invisible to the eye, yet essential to the integrity of the work.
The chain of La Ravenale is not a simple accessory – it is the expression of a discipline that stands on the edge of extinction, brought to life by the hands of Laurent Jolliet, a master chain-maker from Switzerland. It is forged entirely in 18-carat white gold, weighing 36.5g and measuring 31.5cm. From raw metal wire to the final articulated links, every stage is executed by hand – drawn, shaped, bent, soldered and polished with tools that have changed little in a century.
La Ravenale is an Objet d’Art created as a celebration that embodies the maison’s commitment to heritage, precision and art.