Depart it to Parmigiani Fleurier to make materials innovation an train in restraint. Whereas the apply of borrowing high-tech supplies from aerospace or automotive industries is just not new to watchmaking, it’s usually accompanied by aggressive posturing – all wild colors and boasts of digital indestructibility. Not so at Parmigiani Fleurier. When the model introduced it had develop into the primary to make use of cermet (a composite of ceramic and steel, coated under and in our supplies particular elsewhere) extensively in a watch case, it did so with quiet refinement. Meet the Tonda PF Sport Chronograph Extremely-Cermet.
Cermet is a composite fashionable in aerospace, automotive, biomedical, and different high-performance fields, prized for combining one of the best qualities of ceramics and metals. It presents the scratch-resistance of ceramic whereas sustaining the toughness and ductility of steel, making it much less brittle, extra sturdy, and pleasingly light-weight and funky to the contact. There are all method of such ceramic and steel blends, a few of that are composites and others not fairly. Within the case of the Fleurier model, it’s a mix of ceramic and titanium, leading to a cool anthracite shade with a delicate metallic sheen, enhanced by alternating brushed and polished finishes.
The Tonda PF Sport Chronograph Extremely-Cermet’s 42.5mm by 13.3mm case, fluted bezel, crown, pushers, and pin buckle are all constructed from this composite. It took the model three years to develop the fabric, and the case alone requires a full day to assemble it 72 distinct elements.
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The dial continues the theme of understated sophistication. A satin-finished black or (a 9k gold-nickel alloy) offers the floor a grey-black hue that harmonises with the case. Delta-shaped, open-worked arms monitor the hours and minutes, whereas a central second hand marks the chronograph operate. The gold indices are hand-applied, plated with black or, and full of lume for nighttime legibility. Two dial variations can be found – one with subdials in “London Gray”, the opposite in “Milano Blue”– every paired with an identical rubber strap.
Flip the watch over and you will discover the in-house PF070 calibre, first launched in 2021 for the model’s twenty fifth anniversary and the launch of the Tonda PF Chronograph assortment. A high-frequency motion beating at 5 Hz (36,000 vph), it measures elapsed time to 1/tenth of a second and is COSC-certified. It contains a column wheel and vertical clutch, whereas its bridges are open-worked, satin-finished, and hand-bevelled. The 22-carat rose gold oscillating weight is skeletonised, sandblasted, and polished. Totally wound, the calibre presents 65 hours of energy reserve.
In an business the place cutting-edge is never quiet, the Tonda PF Sport Chronograph Extremely-Cermet is refreshingly modest, with out dropping presence. As CEO Guido Terreni places it: “Our timepieces are created for many who worth silence over noise, craftsmanship over spectacle, and that means over affectation.”
This story was first seen as a part of the WOW #79 Summer season 2025 Difficulty
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