Hands-On Review of the Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF GMT Rattrapante

I have been a big fan of Parmigiani Fleurier’s Tonda PF collection ever since its initial release in 2021. The Tonda PF is a great modern luxury stainless steel sport watch that I feel compares favorably with stalwarts like the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak and Patek Philippe Nautilus. And like the Royal Oak and Nautilus, Parmiginani Fleurier has spent the two years since the initial release doing what you’d expect from a flagship offering from a brand: building out the collection. And one of my favorite extensions of the Tonda PF collection is the GMT Rattrapante.

Since I first saw the Tonda PF GMT Rattrapante after its release at Watches & Wonders 2022, I have wanted to get my hands on one to review. I finally got my hands on one and I have to say I remain just as big a fan.

Now before we get into the details of the watch, I guess I should discuss exactly what a GMT and a Rattrapante are: two complications that up until the release of the this watch were never paired together. First off, GMT stands for “Greenwich Mean Time”, which is the standard establishment for dividing the world into it’s necessary timezones. And while most of the world has moved onto UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) much of Europe and Africa still uses GMT time as a means of diving up 24 hour timezones. The watch industry has widely adopted “GMT” as it’s standard for watches that can display multiple timezones, generally two or three, simultaneously. This means that instead of just having the time and date, a second 12 to 24-hour handset is added to the watch so one can read “Local time” and “Home time”, which makes a GMT very useful for travelers.

Now, a rattrapante is something completely different. Rattraprante comes from French, meaning to “catch up.” Historically used in chronograph movements, a rattrapante generally is an additional second hand that is use for the seconds function of a chronograph that hides behind the watch’s seconds hand when the chronograph is not in use. Here, Parmigiani Fleurier did not use a rattrapante for a chronograph functionality, but in a GMT, with the rattrapante hand acting as a local time that hides behind that home time when not in use. So perhaps the watch isn’t a rattrapante in its historical meaning, but I am not going to argue the point too much, as its an innovative complication with a name that fits the complication.

The GMT hand also only operates on a 12 hour cycle, unlike the GMT you are most likely used to. So perhaps the GMT Rattrapante is not a rattrapante or a GMT, at least in the typical definitions of either complication. But again, I am not one to put up too much of a protest, as the GMT Rattrapante (there I go using those terms again) is a seriously cool and seriously stunning watch.

The GMT function is quickly set by pressing the subtle pusher at 8 o’clock. With each press of the pusher, the second hour hand advances a single hour until the second time zone is set. This hour hand is silver in color, like the minutes hand, but it leaves a rose gold second hand visible for the home time. It’s important to have different color hands, because otherwise it would be come confusing distinguishing the local time versus the home time. To use the “rattrapante” function andhide the second GMT hand, simply press the rose gold pusher fixed atop the 3 o’clock crown. Setting the “GMT” could not be any easier.

The Tonda PF is known for its subtle and simple elegance. The blue dial has an intricate woven pattern, but beyond the steel colored indices and hour track, there is only the Parmigiani Fleurier logo on the dial. Some may think this makes the dial a little unbalanced, but I for one really like the sterile look. The dial has enough detail in the pattern to make up for any thoughts of lack of balance.

It seems to me that making the watch a “12-hour GMT” was a aesthetically driven decision. All Tonda PF’s I have seen, including the Tonda GT Chronograph I reviewed last year, have a finely fluted bezel. If Parmigiani wanted to have a typical 24 hour GMT track, they would have really had to include the appropriate GMT bezel. By making it a 12-hour GMT, it is still easy to quickly tell time on both hour hands without having to do any back of the hand math. Plus, the fluted platinum bezel is really nice, so I am glad the brand didn’t ditch it for this watch.

The watch comes on a beautifully integrated stainless steel bracelet, perhaps one of the best attempts at an integrated bracelet I’ve seen recently. It’s a three link bracelet, with the outer links stepped with the outside of the link polished and the inside brushed. It is very well done and the bracelet flows seamlessly from the case to the bracelet. It is also very comfortable, but the lack of any micro-adjustments makes the watch either just a little too tight or too loose on my wrist.

As I’ve come to expect from Parmigiani Fleurier, the in-house caliber PF051 movement is simply stunning. It is pretty thin 4.9mm thick, due to its 22k gold micro-rotor. The movement operates at 3Hz and has a 48-hour power reserve. Because of the micro-rotor and thinness of the movement, the watch’s case is a relatively thin 10.7mm. This, along with its 40mm case size means that its sits comfortably on the wrist and can slide easily under your cuff.

Overall, the Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda GMT Rattrapante, is a nice entrant into the stainless steel sport watch space, especially for someone that wants some complications that can be easily hid away to dress up the watch when needed. I know it might not be either a GMT or rattrapante in the standard definition of the complications, but I’ll let that slide, because what else would you call the watch? You can pick up the Tonda GMT Rattrapante in stainless steel for $29,500 USD.