The annual calendar timepiece has been having a moment lately, as brands aim for that sweet spot between simple day-date and highly complex perpetual calendar complications. The latest to join the party is Parmigiani Fleurier, and its new offering, the Tonda Annual Calendar, is as distinctive in the category as the watchmaker’s fans would expect.
The Parmigiani Tonda Annual Calendar has a retrograde date function and a precision moon-phase.
The watch marks the debut of a new movement, Caliber PF339, which combines a retrograde annual calendar with a highly precise moon-phase. The latest of the 20-plus calibers developed by Michel Parmigiani over his eponymous brand’s 24-year existence, it is ensconced inside a round, polished-finish 40-mm case made of either rose gold or white gold.
Unlike most other annual calendar movements, its date indication works on the basis of a 29-day duration for February, meaning the owner needs to re-set the watch once a year at the end of February, except in leap years ? so, really, only three years out of four. For the following 365 days, from March through the end of the January, the mechanism requires no adjustment. The retrograde date indication ? with its half-moon-shaped pointer advancing through a 31-day scale arching over the top half of the dial before jumping back ? is designed to never obscures the moon-phase display at 6 o’clock. The day of the week and the month are indicated on subdials at 9 o’clock and 3...