Bringing something new to the design table is both extremely easy and notoriously difficult. This lies in the fact that there are so many ways to approach a design that it is almost impossible for someone else to have done it exactly like you would. But there have also been hundreds, if not thousands, of designers who have tried their hands designing any given thing. The result is most likely a design that is original yet reminiscent of another recognizable design that already exists.

In that way, it is very easy to create something that is technically original, yet it’s hard to design something that feels truly original and not like some amalgamation of already existing aesthetics.

That is why whenever a new “insert commonly designed object here” debuts, the earliest discussions include what it reminds people of and how it might differ. If the object is a smartphone, it will undoubtedly be compared to the iPhone or a perhaps the latest Galaxy. If it is a high-end chair, it could get discussed in the same breath with the popular models of the past like an Eames Lounge Chair, a Cesca chair, or the Barcelona by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, a staple of trendy waiting rooms.

A reality of design is that while there are nearly infinite ways to shape things, styles and aesthetics group things in our minds so that we end up familiar with a design because of the other works that use similar shapes, textures, colors, or details. But this doesn’t mean it is pointless to focus on creating a good design that strives for originality. The ability to see and understand what has come before and then tweak things in a design to push it a bit further from the “familiar” is what allows for refreshing takes on the classics or surprising twists that give a whole new feeling to a relatively popular design.

When it comes to designing a new watch collection, this is especially hard because unless the design invents a completely new category of watch or it abandons all traditional hallmarks of a wristwatch it will certainly be compared and contrasted with the most iconic models in any particular category. Ask anyone designing a luxury sports watch which timepieces they would both love or hate to be compared to: you’ll likely hear the same few names over and over again.

Great designers however love this challenge because they understand how focusing on small details and trying to perfect the elements allow a great design to both stand on its own and remind people of other incredible watches. That is exactly what the Parmigiani Tonda PF GMT Rattrapante and the entire Tonda PF collection have done: create a new and unique style using building blocks already familiar to the collector community.

Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF GMT Rattrapante

Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF GMT Rattrapante

As I’ve already pointed out, it is hard to design a luxury sports watch let alone an entire collection based on a new look, so Parmigiani had a tough task ahead when it sought to redesign the Tonda line in an attempt to softly relaunch it as its heavyweight contender. The result was the Tonda PF collection, and I don’t think I need to tell you that it was a success. The new design is a refined stunner, delicately playing both sides of the sporty and luxury visual game.

Since the Tonda PF’S 2021 debut, Parmigiani has released more models within the PF mold with the GMT Rattrapante by far the highlight for me. At first glance it is a simple two-handed watch with a clean dial, no date, a simple logo at 12 o’clock, small, applied indices, and the winning Tonda PF aesthetic.

Sleek GMT button integrated into the lug of the Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF GMT Rattrapante

But if you tune in to the details, you will notice that there is a subtle button hiding in the lower left lug and a small button protruding from the center of the crown that hint at further complication.

This is the secret of the GMT Rattrapante, which does not look to have a GMT or any rattrapante functionality. In reality, the button on the lug is the GMT advance button, which when pushed moves the white gold hour hand forward one hour per push, revealing a pink gold home time hour hand underneath. That hand stays put at “home time,” while the white gold hand can be advanced to match the hour of “travel time” or any other reference time the wearer desires.

In that respect the watch is more so the perfect travel watch because it assumes the wearer might have no use for that second hour hand much of the time, so it stays hidden with the two hands traveling the dial superimposed on each other.

The rattrapante function comes into play when you return home from your trip or no longer need to track a second time zone. Pushing the button in the crown resets the white gold hour hand, returning it to its place on top of the pink gold home time hand with a satisfyingly smooth flyback action. It’s clearly weighted in such a way that instead of being an instantaneous snap like a typical rattrapante it glides home, providing a sense of the sumptuousness of the mechanism.

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