This Sleeper Steel Sports Watch’s Unique Feature Doesn’t Just Tell Time, It Plans the Future

It wasn’t that long ago when the watchmaking term “rattrapante” referred to just one thing: a rattrapante chronograph, also known as a split-seconds chronograph.

In such a chronograph, there are two center seconds hands for the stopwatch instead of one. One stacked on top of the other, they move in conjunction when the chronograph is activated. But the press of a dedicated pusher causes the lower, hidden hand to pause, timing one event, while the other hand continues unabated. When needed, another press of that pusher will instantly send the stopped seconds hand to catch up to its sibling, hiding behind it once again. (Rattrapante is French for “catch up”.)

It’s considered the most prestigious type of chronograph, and a difficult complication for a watchmaker to master. But Swiss independent brand Parmigiani Fleurier wasn’t content to just make a rattrapante chronograph (though they’ve done that, too). In recent years, the brand has invented two never-before-seen types of rattrapante complications that have nothing to do with chronos.

Getting the lion’s share of the attention is the GMT Rattrapante. Unveiled in 2022, this minimalist approach to a GMT superimposes two hour hands and allows you to independently adjust your local hour hand via pusher when traveling, and then instantly call it back when you’re back to tracking a single time zone.

Launched the following year, to decidedly less fanfare, is the unique Minute Rattrapante. But now, a fetching new version unveiled at Dubai Watch Week 2025 may finally get this highly inventive rattrapante complication the attention it deserves.

Parmigiani Fleurier

Plan ahead

Parmigiani’s new watch is the Tonda PF Minute Rattrapante Arctic Rose. As you can surely tell by the name, the watch is the latest addition to the brand’s Tonda PF line — a sleeper sports watch that quietly ranks among the best at its lofty price point thanks to its combination of beautiful elegance, outstanding craftsmanship and robust sportiness.

The Tonda PF is also arguably Parmigiani’s most experimental line. It’s the home of both of the brand’s alternate rattrapante complications, and by now I’m sure you’re chomping at the bit to learn just what a minute rattrapante complication is.

On the watch’s 40mm stainless steel case, you’ll find three pushers: two integrated steel pushers at 8:00 and 10:00, and a third in 18K rose gold embedded in the crown. That’s a lot of pushers for a watch that appears to only have two rhodium-plated skeletonized hands, but there are actually two minute hands, with a second rose gold minute hand hidden below the primary minute hand.

Parmigiani Fleurier

Pressing the pusher at 8:00 moves the rose gold minute hand ahead by five-minute increments, and pressing the 10:00 pusher moves it forward in one-minute increments. Pressing the pusher in the crown causes the gold minute hand to instantly snap back to its hiding place behind the main minute hand.

So that’s how it works, but why would anyone want to use such a feature?

Basically, it’s an inventive way to plan future timing events. For instance, maybe you tell yourself you’ll get up and take a walk in 25 minutes. You can then adjust your second minute hand to 25 minutes in the future, giving you a clear visual of what your watch will look like at the moment you’re anticipating, while you watch the current time catch up to your anticipated future.

Parmigiani Fleurier

I know what you’re thinking. Can’t you essentially do the same thing with a timing bezel, a chronograph or an alarm? Well, yes, but it just feels different on the Minute Rattrapante. It’s more elegant. More romantic. There’s something about setting a time in the future and then filling the space leading up to it. It almost feels magical.

Rest assured, I am aware of how silly this all sounds. But that’s watch collecting in a nutshell.

As for this example of the Tonda PF Minute Rattrapante, it’s largely the same as the original that launched two years ago. It features the same impeccably finished 40mm stainless steel case and integrated bracelet, the same hand-knurled platinum bezel, the same gorgeous in-house Calibre PF052 automatic movement with its 22-carat rose gold micro-rotor and the same dial design with the brand’s signature Grain d’Orge hand-guilloché pattern.

The only difference is the dial color. The original Minute Rattrapante has a Sand Gray dial that’s … fine. It’s fine. The new Arctic Rose version, meanwhile, has a breathtaking light pink dial that plays with the light in wonderful ways. It’s a much more striking backdrop for this inventive complication and feels like an instant hit to me.

Parmigiani Fleurier

Pricing and availability

Parmigiani is a luxury brand, like real luxury, and the prices of its watches reflect their industry-leading quality. In other words, they’re very expensive, with pricing that starts around $25,000 mark.

Keeping that in mind, the Tonda PF Minute Rattrapante Arctic Rose actually feels pretty reasonable considering the novelty of the complication — not to mention that this is a steel watch that manages to also feature rose gold and platinum. It’s priced at $37,629 and is not limited, which is good, because this beauty should be the poster boy for the Minute Rattrapante moving forward.

Parmigiani Fleurier

Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Minute Rattrapante Arctic Rose

Specs

Case Size	40mm
Movement	Parmigiani Fleurier Cal. PF052 automatic minute rattrapante
Water Resistance	60m

• $37,629 at Parmigiani Fleurier

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