Parmigiani Fleurier Introduces Annual Objet D’Art La Ravenale

Parmigiani Fleurier commemorates the birthday of its founder, Michel Parmigiani, this year with the La Ravenale Lépine pocket watch.

Parmigiani Fleurier

Parmigiani Fleurier's newest Objet d'Art, La Ravenale, is introduced as a horological talisman that embodies the geometry of nature inside watchmaking. Revealed as the Maison's annual production in honour of its founder, Michel Parmigiani's birthday, the item derives its name and formal influence from the Ravenala madagascariensis – the Traveller's Palm – whose fan symmetry and Golden Ratio proportions shape the object's visual language.

Instead of a traditional wristwatch, La Ravenale utilises a Lépine pocket-watch design crafted in 18k white gold, featuring hand-engraved surfaces, a blue-treated white-gold dial, and minimalist indications (hours, minutes, small seconds) that highlight proportion, harmony, and the reflective nature of time.

The reverse of La Ravenale has a study in mineral contrast: a double back inlaid with opal and jade marquetry by LM Cadrans. Opal's iridescent display suggests water and sky, with its delicate fragments meticulously cut and arranged with micromosaic accuracy; jade offers a contrasting sense of substantial, tranquil depth. This discourse on mutable and immutable materials serves as a contemplation of time's duality—transient and everlasting—and is enhanced by the case's hand-engraving, domed sapphire crystals, and a crown adorned with a blue sapphire, all designed to reflect the Traveller’s Palm motif in metal and stone.

Parmigiani Fleurier

At its core lies a meticulously repaired ultra-thin minute repeater calibre, signed Ed. Koehn, Genève, originating from the 1920s and revitalised by Parmigiani Fleurier’s Atelier de Restauration. The movement, first designed with a Genevan principle of subtle mastery, maintains its primary hours and minutes, minuscule seconds, and a two-gong repeater featuring symmetrical hammers. Restorers have meticulously refurbished the mainplate, bevels, and anglages, while hand-engraving palm designs on the visible bridges connects the movement's mechanical structure to the Traveller's Palm theme, transforming utilitarian elements into decorative representations of natural geometry.

For additional information, visit the Maison's official website.