Master watchmaker Michel Parmigiani, founder of Parmigiani Fleurier, turned 70 in 2020, and the eponymous maison he founded in 1996 is commemorating this milestone birthday with the Toric Heritage, a limited-edition timepiece that takes its design cues, appropriately, from the first wristwatch that he ever designed. We spoke with Parmigiani about his trailblazing career in independent watchmaking, his dedication to natural harmony in watch design, and the importance of preserving traditional horology.

Michel Parmigiani

WT: Your interest in architecture has always informed your watch designs. In what ways are architecture and watch design similar"

MP:     Architecture is a fantastic base for creativity because we find in it the same aspects that we find in nature, especially the quest for harmony in proportions. This is the quest that has always influenced my timepiece creations ? following the principles of the golden ratio from art and the Fibonacci sequence from science and trying to put them into practice for watch designs.
WT:    Parmigiani Fleurier began with your restoration business, which you established in the 1970s in the heart of the Quartz Crisis. What gave you the confidence back then that mechanical watchmaking would endure"

MP:     I?ve always believed that mechanical watches are timeless. We will always feel a need to repair them, to take care of them; sometimes it?s just changin...