In episode 2 of this series, Anita sits down to have a conversation with the suave CEO of Parmigiani Fleurier-Guido Terreni. After a fantastic 2023 for the Watch Maison, Anita and Guido discuss the revival of the iconic Toric collection this year and what does this mean for the brand. And of course, Anita also breaks down what drives Guido’s style choices while pairing his watches. Tune in!
[00:00:00] Welcome back to yet another episode of Luxe Insider with me or host Anita Khatri.
[00:00:11] I am welcoming you straight from Jidhiwa, where I am at the world's largest watch exhibition,
[00:00:17] The Watches and Wonders 2024.
[00:00:20] The highlight of today's episode is a watch brand that excludes sophisticated luxury
[00:00:27] acute perfection. Simple yet complicated, luxury yet silent, bold yet understated.
[00:00:38] I am talking about Parmajani Floor. In the last three years this brand has grown
[00:00:45] leaps and bounds in terms of its revenue and unit timepieces sold globally with 2023 being a record
[00:00:52] year for them. The Tonda PF could be attributed to this stunning feet.
[00:00:59] Parmajani Floor watch owners and collectors are proud of its clean, minimal designs
[00:01:05] and with the Tonda PF even the complications are sophisticatedly displayed.
[00:01:12] The Tonda PF Ratarpan and the many iterations since 2021 are a classic example.
[00:01:20] Coming to 2024, it was about bringing back the Tauric collection.
[00:01:26] Parmajani's iconic collection Satorial refined and versatile elegance.
[00:01:32] As I discovered the collection, I only fell more in love with them.
[00:01:39] I sit down with Guido Terini, the CEO of Parmajani Floor as I explore more about
[00:01:45] the Tauric collection, the sensibilities of men's dressing and styling. His message for India
[00:01:53] here is what he had to say. So it's so wonderful to see you Guido again.
[00:01:59] And this is back start of the fair. My first touch and feel has been with Parmajani.
[00:02:07] Congratulations to the brilliant collection that you have launched.
[00:02:14] What is that called? I was just thinking what was it called? I saw Tauric collection
[00:02:20] because every time you think of Parmajani's Tonda, so the first thing is Tonda PF no,
[00:02:25] it's Tauric collection. But before we jump to the collection and talk about that,
[00:02:29] Parmajani on the dial is a new look of PF with Parmajani. What was the reason for that?
[00:02:39] Well, you see in both collections because the Tonda PF that we launched in 2021 and the first
[00:02:44] design that we did was a micro-rotor. So the most simple one is a quest for a very understated
[00:02:51] style, very pure in the thinking, in the idea, but very rich in the making. So you have
[00:02:58] techniques which are not very present in the eye, they're subtle, but they give you this flavor of
[00:03:06] interesting treatments. And the same thing has been done on the Tauric. So the two collection are
[00:03:13] very consistent in the style with this minimal approach to displaying. There's very pure, very
[00:03:20] fresh and but with a different feeling because one is a sport elegant watch, the other is a more
[00:03:27] of a dressy watch and very, very not, I wouldn't say formal because it's moving the elegance
[00:03:33] of a gentleman in towards a more sartorial approach to beauty. These two dials are very
[00:03:41] consistent, done in a completely different way, but they transfer this allure of the brand which
[00:03:47] is very gentle and very elegant and very pure. And congratulations because the year 23 has been
[00:03:57] brilliant, units sold are three times and your revenue has grown five times. Five times if the
[00:04:04] allies. We were missing a collection that was encountering the appeal of today's world. So
[00:04:13] we worked on the identity of the style. And once you give to a connoisseur, a Parmigiani which is
[00:04:19] well made, designed in an elegant way which is fresh, it immediately reactivated the brand.
[00:04:26] Would you say that Tonda is responsible for this? Are you saying that? The product is responsible
[00:04:32] for this. Yes, because we have put the product at the core of our value proposition. In luxury
[00:04:40] a lot of people think that it's about storytelling. It's about, yes everything is important but you
[00:04:46] cannot not put the watch as a protagonist of what you're offering. And this is the most important
[00:04:56] thing and connoisseurs are able to discern, are able to understand the content that you put in
[00:05:03] a watch, the identity of the style. You don't need a tutorial for somebody who knows what
[00:05:08] watchmaking is about. You don't buy a Parmigiani as your first watch, you've already done your
[00:05:13] experience, you're knowledgeable. It doesn't mean that you're elder because we are encountering
[00:05:20] a lot of appreciation in people that are in their 30s and early 40s. So it's a young client
[00:05:26] there but educated and that knew that Parmigiani was a prestigious secret if you are to be
[00:05:34] in the industry. And coming from a previous experience where we had to reposition a brand
[00:05:41] that didn't have a watchmaking legitimacy, that is a path that takes decades and I was surprised
[00:05:47] by the reactivation of Parmigiani-Ferrier in such a small amount of time because
[00:05:52] that pedigree of watchmaking with this legitimacy is already there. And once you give a watch which
[00:05:58] is appealing, which is right for the public and is true to the brand, it blossomed by itself.
[00:06:06] And in 2022 already we had double the business, in 2023 it had grown even further so
[00:06:14] it's something that I'm very proud of because it's made sure. Congratulations, yes absolutely.
[00:06:21] But what I'm most proud of is speaking to the R&N customer and understanding why he loves it
[00:06:27] and the return is a personal choice, it's a watch that is not mainstream, it's a watch that
[00:06:35] is not well known so I feel a person among the few and then the style is done in a way which
[00:06:43] is very sense, it's appreciated by people who are not there to show off their wealth.
[00:06:50] So does TORiC Collection reflects the same DNA as Tonda? So did you involve the customer feedback
[00:07:00] before, I mean how does the design team come about that this is what we need to follow?
[00:07:07] The original collection, Michel did the TORiC first and then he did the Tonda.
[00:07:12] Okay. I chose the Tonda VF to work on because it was right for 2021 and it was
[00:07:21] what was more, if you want in what people were buying a metal watch bracelet,
[00:07:29] sporty elegant watch done in the next visit way it was the quickest thing that we had,
[00:07:34] we could do and it was the right thing to do but then watchmaking is much more
[00:07:39] and Panamijan is much more than a sporty collection and when we came out with the Tonda VF
[00:07:45] a lot of clients were asking us oh I would love that you could do the same work on the TORiC and
[00:07:51] refresh what you were born with. It's a much more difficult exercise because the TORiC is
[00:07:58] a classic aesthetic, very formal and the formality in today's world is different
[00:08:06] so I'm not interested in expressing an aesthetic which is stiff and classic and conservative
[00:08:13] we are moving forward the aesthetic codes for masculine elements and it took us much more
[00:08:18] time to design the TORiC. I think it's going to take two and a half years from when we started
[00:08:25] working to the final product to have it on the market because the watch is going to arrive
[00:08:29] in September or it's not available these pieces are now but it's we we build our waiting list
[00:08:37] in September, in September we will deliver the skeleton piece of TORiC collection it's amazing
[00:08:44] the skeleton is on the Tonda PF so the Tonda PF, the TORiC is a gold one, yeah the blue skeleton
[00:08:52] is on the beard of course the TORiC is but the Tonda PF skeleton is a new one right yes we did
[00:09:00] the skeleton was launched in 2022 in steel and gold, steel with an antrocyte movement as well as
[00:09:09] the gold the pink gold very successful and very appreciated for the purity of the design
[00:09:15] the mechanics is extremely readable at the eye of the owner and now we decided to go to platinum
[00:09:25] and to do it with a new movement, a blue milana movement which copes with the platinum very well so
[00:09:31] there's a sentence that I like a lot in Michelle and Michelle says the technique is beautiful
[00:09:37] and this is a true example of how technique can be beautiful and it can give you an emotion
[00:09:44] for who wants to appreciate the mechanic from the dire side, the lovers of the skeletons is quite a
[00:09:51] specific community of people and it's very difficult to do a very readable skeleton because it's
[00:09:58] difficult to enhance on top of the mechanics and make them readable and in this occasion
[00:10:04] I think we did a great job in making the reader read the owner read the time very very easily
[00:10:11] and the TORiC one has a very nice polish on the dial yes I do not know the technique but the dial
[00:10:19] itself it adds or it's illuminate it's very illuminating but it also adds depth at the same
[00:10:29] time it's very simple and very elegant so what would you say about that? That's some purpose
[00:10:35] because the style of the brand being subtle it's like the PF that has the gear shea but it's so small
[00:10:41] that you almost don't see it but it's like having a texture that makes the dial interesting so
[00:10:46] it's not invasive to the eye when you read the time so it doesn't warn you out but it gives you
[00:10:51] this feeling of quality of attention to details and the technique of what we did on the TORiC
[00:10:58] is amazing because it goes back in the 19th century and it is a greenieman
[00:11:06] means french means that you are creating a sort of grain on the on the gold the dial is a gold
[00:11:12] yes and through a technique of brushing by hand with some chemical products that you mix
[00:11:21] in a secret formula that Michelle has recovered you are creating this abrasive texture that
[00:11:29] creates this granularity of the surface and that's what you call the total effect so it's
[00:11:36] this brushing gives you a matte finishing that you can then this color so the color that we
[00:11:43] chose was either a green dial color on the platinum or the you're wearing but yeah the the sandy gold
[00:11:52] version here this is sandy gold this is the sandy gold and then you have the the green part on the
[00:12:01] I wanted to show your watch which one you're wearing yeah so this is no no you're wearing
[00:12:05] this one yeah and every element is done in order to to convey a sense of purity in the 50s in the 60
[00:12:15] you used to have dials the vintage dials that were diving at the outside of the dial they were flat on
[00:12:21] the center and then they curved towards the outside and this gives you a very elegant touch to a dial
[00:12:27] and depth but doing that would have been a vintage choice and it will be again looking
[00:12:33] at the past so we cut this curve with a step and you see this outline yes is where the dial is flat
[00:12:42] is until this outline in gold and you have a like a cut of the surface and then you have a curved
[00:12:47] minute scale on the outside but this is a modern interpretation of these Shiva dies of the 50s of
[00:12:53] the 60s and the gold is in there in the dial the gold the this outline is is taking out the
[00:13:01] treatment that you did through brushing by by polishing it again and every element that you see
[00:13:08] here is part of the gold that is beneath the surface so the dial is in full gold but this one
[00:13:13] is also having a different color of gold it's to do with the copper content but I don't know
[00:13:20] this is like a pink pink gold it's pink gold the dial is in pink gold too and then you you color
[00:13:26] the surface that I explained to you before and then you make again the gold come out by taking
[00:13:33] out the surface where you want the outlines you want to even the the small seconds has the
[00:13:40] drilling of these four markers basically is the gold beneath the treatment that comes out again
[00:13:45] because you're taking out the treatment to show the gold so it's extremely difficult to make
[00:13:51] but very simple to look at so this tension between purity and simplicity of the effect
[00:13:57] coped with a very complex and traditional art of making the treatment is part of the emotion of
[00:14:04] this watch when would you say this watch can be worn like if you had to style and you want to
[00:14:10] give audience a style tip when when do you think this watch is perfect to be a door
[00:14:16] well this is a watch that can be worn in a different way than a dressy watch usually
[00:14:21] a dressy watch is formal this can be formal but it's so fresh in the colors in the materials
[00:14:26] that we use the namook alligator strap is very soft and attached so it can be worn also in a
[00:14:32] in a decontracted way of dressing casual it can be a casual anaphobe yes but it's not a casual
[00:14:42] you can wear it also but I wouldn't see this watch on a street wear
[00:14:46] outfit I would see it more on a casual outfit but still refined which is your favorite watch so far
[00:14:55] I have a soft spot for the micro rotor in the pf but this is also very important because
[00:15:05] these two watches are the father of their own collections so that's the most difficult thing
[00:15:10] to do to nail a creativity in the simple movement of just an hour minute in this case also our minute
[00:15:17] second that's the most complicated thing to do in design and I think these two watches are
[00:15:24] a true expression of what the brand should be so how many pieces now we all produce because
[00:15:30] earlier I know that they were like 5000 now the brand has the brand has reached bigger numbers
[00:15:37] when the price point was lower in the past but I'm not interested in producing thousands and
[00:15:44] thousands of watches we are we're we're not disclosing how many pieces we do but it's few
[00:15:49] thousand pieces okay it's not it's not a thousand it's not one thousand but it's in it's in the
[00:15:56] it's few thousands and it's not really important how if it's three four five that doesn't really
[00:16:02] make a big difference it's the important thing is that what you are putting on the market is in
[00:16:07] line with what the people are wanting and you don't overdo and you don't oversell that's the
[00:16:14] cancer watchmaking is to push the ceiling and to make a short-term approach to through
[00:16:20] watchmaking we have to we have to grow at the rhythm of the sale out of the who is
[00:16:27] the end customer who is buying us perfect if you don't mind me asking you only for my audience
[00:16:33] again they are very keen on understanding what styling is all about so what are you wearing today
[00:16:40] like in terms of your shoes what is it a brand or it's no it's something you like it it's not
[00:16:47] a brand okay it's something that you like it yes okay but you you you are comfortable in pairing
[00:16:53] with this watch not a problem of this watch can be worn in many different many colors it's it's
[00:17:01] it's very pastel the facial colors right these these colors are neutral so they can be matched
[00:17:08] very well usually I don't match more than one color so one or two is already a lot three is too
[00:17:14] much because you have to you you have to be consistent and elegance is also about not doing
[00:17:22] too much okay and and then what is important to know is that men dress in a way which is a convention
[00:17:32] that is now lasting I'm talking about the western world yes that is lasting now 200 years so the
[00:17:39] fact that the suit the shirts is the way that we dress since since the industrial revolution
[00:17:47] no and it was a way which which created a sort of uniform no and also the black color came along
[00:18:00] with the 19th century because black was a very rare material because very difficult to to produce
[00:18:05] and to last when you wash you used to wash a black cloth in in the 19th century it became gray
[00:18:11] very quickly so only the rich could really dress black you know that was a certain way of prestige
[00:18:18] that's why tuxedo is black well the most the most prestigious color in the 19th century was black
[00:18:24] and it was also very consistent so throughout decades black remained the formal color and
[00:18:32] washmaking goes along with that because formal dressy watches were usually with a white dial
[00:18:38] and with a black glossy strap and if you wanted to add some twist you might want to go on a brown
[00:18:44] but that's where men has been wearing watches classic with these two colors for the whole 19th
[00:18:52] century now there is a comeback of sartorial wear especially in wealthy young people especially
[00:19:00] from Asia which are discovering the craft which are discovering the pleasure of dressing up
[00:19:06] well but not in a stiff way so that's what you dressing up well but not in a stiff way
[00:19:12] yeah you how about you being by that I mean that even if you're wearing a suit or even if you're
[00:19:18] in a shirt the fabric the the quality of the the culture of of what you're wearing
[00:19:25] can be very high but it can be not formal in a way which is stiff which is rigid
[00:19:33] can be very relaxed it can be very comfortable it can be but still very elegant without being classic
[00:19:40] and a uniform so this trend is is is very interesting because it's another fashion
[00:19:46] this is really rediscovering the beauty of dressing well without being without being
[00:19:52] formal and usually you do your own you go to tailors you do your own you choose your
[00:19:59] your fabrics and it becomes a personal choice and people who are educated like this who know what
[00:20:08] real style is about are not fashion victims they're not going for what is the brand designing
[00:20:16] they're really developing their own style mixing and matching following their own choices
[00:20:21] and this watch comes very well perfect thank you so much Guido well India is happening if
[00:20:28] you want to give a message to Indian well yes it's true and India is everybody speaking about India
[00:20:35] as the next thing I truly believe in that too and I hope that what we are doing encounters
[00:20:43] the the appeal of a few sophisticated Indian Indians yeah you have a lot of education on that
[00:20:51] yes thank you thank you Guido it was pleasure discovering the Toric collection
[00:20:58] head to my youtube channel and instagram to check out the Toric collection for Parma Jani
[00:21:03] floor and my full video interview with Guido Terrane I'll be back with yet another episode
[00:21:10] and another CEO stay tuned