Monday, 11 February 2013

Parmigiani Fleurier Bugatti Vitesse Watch

With SIHH 2013 in Geneve right around the corner, this is the last SIHH 2013 preview I will share with you before the action hits.  The Bugatti Vitesse from Parmigiani was actually unveiled a few months ago in Pebble Beach, but it will be received by a much broader audience next week in Geneva.   The watch is, as the name suggests, a tribute to the king of the road, the Bugatti Veyron.  And like the Bugatti, this watch — with its Texalium dial and alligator strap by Hermes — is anything but ordinary.
Parmigiani Fleurier Bugatti Vitesse


The case is constructed of titanium, measuring 36mm x 50mm x 22mm, with six sapphire crystals offering multiple looks inside the atypically designed timepiece.  The crown is lapis lazulli stone on the blue model, and carnelian on the orange model:


The caliber is Parmigiani’s 333-component, manual wind PF372.  It delivers a power reserve of 10 days and is of course finished to the exacting standards of Parmigiani Fleurier:
Offered in striking blue and orange colors, the dial on the Parmigiani Bugatti Vitesse is constructed from Texalium.  Texalium is often mistaken for carbon  fiber, but actually it is different (see “Did You Know?” below).

 TexaliumAccording to Carbon Fiber Gear, “Texalium was developed by a company based out of California named Hexcel. It’s a fiberglass-basic fabric that has a proprietary finish and a thin coating of aluminum on the surface. The aluminum coating is 99.99% pure and approximately 200 angstroms in thickness (One angstrom is one billionth of a meter). This coating produces the highly reflective surface. Texalium fabrics are woven in 2/2 twill, and standard roll lengths are 100 yards.”   Read more at Carbon Fiber Gear.

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