Given the brand’s rise in popularity and its impressive technical and design evolution over the past few years, it’s difficult to say if Parmigiani still qualifies as a “dark horse” in the modern luxury watch landscape. While it may not yet have the mainstream cache of some of its larger rivals, most dyed-in-the-wool enthusiasts have at least a passing familiarity with Parmigiani’s signature blend of stylistic refinement and high-quality movement work. Since the arrival of current brand CEO Guido Terreni in 2021, Parmigiani’s pace of development has been impressively rapid, reinventing whole product lines in the space of a few short years. The marque’s sportier side is the latest to receive this sort of rapid refreshment, as the more athletic Tonda GT collection is now officially discontinued. In its place, Parmigiani presents the Tonda PF Sport family – a more technically complex, visually bolder, and significantly more upscale sporting take on the fan-favorite Tonda PF silhouette. Although a three-hand variant of this new line is also available, it’s safe to say the new Parmigiani Tonda PF Sport Chronograph is the standout offering in the new collection, bringing a more athletic edge to the still relatively new Tonda PF family while keeping the spirit of the brand intact.
Although it is on the larger side at 42mm-wide, the Parmigiani Tonda PF Sport Chronograph’s stainless steel case offers an impressively svelte and balanced wearing experience on the wrist. This comes down to a variety of factors, but the most prominent element is the short, integrated form of Parmigiani’s signature flanged lugs. This keeps the overall lug-to-lug length extremely manageable, allowing this broad, sporty shape to conform well to smaller wrists (my own wrists are a hair larger than 6.75 inches, for reference). The second major factor in the PF Sport Chronograph’s wearability comes down to the way Parmigiani handles case thickness. On paper, this isn’t particularly chunky for an automatic chronograph at 12.9mm-thick, but clever case proportioning gives it a far more slender profile than one might expect. Take, for example, the sapphire display caseback. This caseback projects fairly deep, but as it approaches the case sides, it recedes with a dramatically flared concave curve until it sits nearly flush with the main case body. In practice, this means the Tonda PF Sport Chronograph tends to nestle into the wrist during wear, visually hiding this portion of the case depth efficiently. Parmigiani uses a similar concave form for the brand’s signature dual-finish bezel. The inner portion of this bezel slopes to nearly vertical, but this region’s mirror-polished finishing and the bezel’s flatter outer segment work in concert to draw the eye away from this last bit of case height as well.
Speaking of Parmigiani’s hallmark bezel design, eagle-eyed fans of the brand may notice that the Tonda PF Sport Chronograph somewhat changes the visual format here. Rather than the 220 ultra-thin notches that define the classic Parmigiani fluted bezel design, the brand opts for 160 here. While this fluting is still elegantly slim, the slightly broader surfaces allow for bolder, more intense light play on the wrist than its dressier stablemates. This sort of thoughtful attention to detail permeates the Tonda PF Sport Chronograph’s case design. The chronograph pushers at 2 o’clock and 4 o’clock are a prime example of this. Not only do these brightly polished elements feature a curving teardrop shape to echo the flanged lugs they sit upon, they are also angled to perfectly match the flow of the case sides when viewed from above. The lugs themselves also reward close viewing here. The polished edges of the case side lug flanges add some distinctive brightness to the case without appearing ostentatious, and transition seamlessly into the polished upper lug surfaces for a striking sense of visual flow. Although it may not be as stylistically aggressive as some of its rivals, Parmigiani bills the Tonda PF Sport Chronograph as a properly capable sports watch, and backs up this claim with a solid 100 meters of water resistance.
For the dial of the Tonda PF Sport Chronograph, Parmigiani pares back its previous sports chronograph designs to their bare elements and presents the same basic formula in a pure, elegantly minimal form. The overall impression one gets from this panda dial at first glance is openness and simplicity, with a wealth of negative space and only the applied Parmigiani emblem at 12 o’clock in the way of dial text. The main silver dial surface is executed in a new, smaller clou triangulaire guilloché texture, which almost disappears in certain lighting conditions but offers finely detailed highlights and shadows on close viewing. The three black subdials are fully matte, further adding to the sense of minimalism, and offer cleanly pared-back printed scales as well. Parmigiani’s familiar skeleton alpha handset returns here, featuring jet black-filled tips to match the small beveled applied indices. Although the look is distinctive, this also highlights one of the watch’s real drawbacks as a sporting timepiece. There’s no lume here whatsoever, so precise timing becomes a struggle in darker conditions. Likewise, the cutout date window at 4:30 is sure to ruffle some enthusiast feathers, both for its floating position and its lack of framing.
Like 2021’s Tonda PF Chronograph, Parmigiani powers the Tonda PF Sport Chronograph with its in-house PF070 automatic chronograph movement. Visually, the PF070 is undeniably striking, with heavily skeletonized bridges finished in a continuous arabesque wave pattern and hand-polished anglage. Key elements like the column wheel and the balance bridge are tightly and attractively framed, but the entire display still feels visually intelligible and not excessively complex. The brand fits the PF070 with a newly revised 22K gold skeleton rotor for this model, with a handsome skeleton design inspired by the steering wheel of the classic Ferrari 250 GTO. On the technical side, the PF070 is no less impressive, with a fully integrated chronograph complication, COSC certification for accuracy, and a robust 65 hour power reserve at a velvety smooth 36,000 bph beat rate.
To complete the design, Parmigiani pairs the Tonda PF Sport Chronograph with an integrated fabric-effect strap in matte black rubber. This supple, athletic strap gives the overall package a racier, more athletic feel on the wrist, and is effortlessly comfortable out of the box. However, the two-button butterfly deployant clasp can be somewhat stiff to operate at times, but long-term use might be able to “break in” this component over time.
Taken as a whole, the new Parmigiani Tonda PF Sport Chronograph continues the brand’s rapid advancement by delivering a stunningly refined integrated sporting chronograph experience, bringing a more focused, muscular presence to the brand’s most popular platform while providing gorgeous finishing and movement design. However, it’s also worth noting that this watch is a major step up in price from the outgoing Tonda GT Chronograph family it replaces, with an MSRP nearly $10,000 above its predecessor, and it truly lies with enthusiasts to decide if this price hike is justified. This new pricing does bring the Tonda PF Sport Chronograph in line with the rest of the current Tonda PF family though, coming in at slightly less than the standard Tonda PF Chronograph. The Parmigiani Tonda PF Sport Chronograph is available now through authorized dealers. MSRP for the Parmigiani Tonda PF Sport Chronograph stands at $29,000 USD as of press time. For more information, please visit the brand’s website.
