Hands-On: The Parmigiani Fleurier Pantographe, A Unique Oval Wristwatch With Telescoping Mechanical Hands

Most crafts have a basic technical vocabulary, with much of the existing variety coming from variation and permutation. For example, in classic French cooking you have the so-called “mother” sauces (béchamel, velouté, espagnole, tomate, and hollandaise) on which the formal vocabulary of haute cuisine is built. In watchmaking, you have the time-only watch, the chronograph, the calendar (normal, annual, perpetual), the repeater, and so on. There is a lot of real interest to be found in coming up with an infinite number of variations on a theme, and you could eat just French cuisine for the rest of your life with no pain, but if that was all you ever had, and suddenly someone offered you a shot at, say, sushi at Jiro’s, you’d probably leap at the chance like you’d never leapt before. Likewise, in watchmaking there is a standard repertoire of variations on the basics, from which many lifetimes of satisfaction can be had – but there are also, occasionally, watches different enough to be a real breath of fresh air.

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