The Rattrapante chronograph is one of the three grand complications in fine watchmaking, but Parmigiani seem to have made it their mission since their rebrand to see what else they can do with the split-handed mechanism. First, there was the GMT Rattrapante, which hid the second time zone hour right under the local time hand. Then there was the Minute Rattrapante, which did the same for countdowns – and it’s the latter we now have a new version of in the new Tonda PF Minute Rattrapante Arctic Rose, which we saw at Dubai Watch Week.
First, what exactly is a minute rattrapante? Given Parmigiani are the only watchmaker to have done it, it’s not exactly a common feature – or, more accurately, it’s not common in this format, which we’ll get on to. That’s because the minute rattrapante is essentially a countdown timer.
At its core, there are two minute hands, one stacked on top of the other. Press the pusher at 10 o’clock and the lower hand jumps forwards a minute and stays there. The other pusher at 8 o’clock instead jumps it forwards 5 minutes. To make sure you know which is which, the current time is in gold, the interval time hand is rhodium plated. From there, the gold hand moves as normal, counting down the minutes until they come together again and start moving in tandem as normal.
It’s a seriously impressive bit of watchmaking. But when you think a bit more about it… all you’re doing is setting a time to count down to. That’s exactly what your average dive watch bezel is for. There’s functionally no difference. And I find that hilarious, in the best possible way.
So why this flex? Is it just because there’s actually a reason for it? Well, it’s much more innately usable than a diving bezel, not to mention orders of magnitude more satisfying. But honestly, it’s more about aesthetics than anything else. The Tonda PF is defined by its clean elegance. A countdown bezel would be sacrilege.
All of that is fascinating but honestly not new. It deserves a recap as it’s such a fun function, but the original Minute Rattrapante was launched in 2023; this version is all about the dial. Pink is having a moment and Parmigiani have decided to put on their rose-tinted glasses too with a gorgeously pale hue dubbed Arctic Rose.
It falls in line with Parmigiani’s adopted palette of pale pastels, looks killer in the Grain d’Orge guilloché and works nicely with the stainless steel case and framed by the collections knurled bezel in platinum. Is it ground-breaking? No. But as a second look at a complication that more than deserves it, I can’t have a go at Parmigiani for giving the Minute Rattrapante a lovely new face.
Price and Specs:
More details at Parmigiani.
