This Elegant Sports Watch Is Secretly the World’s Most Discreet Chronograph

So mysterious.

bottom view of a silver stainless steel wristwatch with a ridged bezel and metal link bracelet against a blue background.

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By Johnny Brayson

Published April 20, 2026

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Updated April 22, 2026

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It wasn’t that long ago when the word “rattrapante” in watchmaking referred exclusively to a split-seconds chronograph. That was before independent watchmaker Parmigiani Fleurier got hold of the term and decided to have some fun with it.

It began in 2022 with the introduction of the Tonda PF GMT Rattrapante, a never-before-seen type of travel watch. It allows the independent setting of the local hour hand when traveling, leaving behind a previously hidden hand to continue tracking home time. Once returning to your original time zone, you can recall your local hour hand to once again join your home time hand, turning the watch back into a classic three-hander.

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Next, we got the Tonda PF Minute Rattrapante in 2023. It features a hidden minute hand behind the regular minute hand and allows you to set a timer of sorts, launching one minute hand into the future while the other counts down in real time to catch up to it.

Now, PF has come up with yet another rattrapante watch, and it’s the brand’s most impressive yet. Since it’s a chronograph, calling this thing a “rattrapante” would’ve been too confusing and majorly undersold what the watch does, so get ready to meet the Tonda PF Chronograph Mystérieux.

Silver stainless steel wristwatch with a textured blue dial and minimalist hour markers. — Your eyes don’t deceive you, there are five centrally mounted hands here.

So mysterious

When its chronograph isn’t activated, the Tonda PF Chronograph Mystérieux looks more or less like any other Tonda PF, i.e., it’s classy as hell. The watch has skeletonized white gold hands and applied indices, a mineral blue dial featuring the brand’s trademark “Grain d’Orge” hand-guilloché pattern, and a 40mm stainless steel case with a knurled bezel in platinum.

But the magic lies in the discreet teardrop pusher on the side of the case at 7:30. Press it once, and the seconds hand flies to 12:00, where it instantly starts tracking seconds for the chronograph. It’s joined in its journey to 12:00 by previously hidden pink gold chronograph hour and minute hands, which had been hiding behind their main timekeeping counterparts.

Silver stainless steel wristwatch with textured light blue dial and silver and rose gold hands. — The pink gold chronograph hour and minute hands are only visible when called upon.

The three central-stacked chronograph hands chronicle the stopwatch’s measurements up to 12 hours across the entire dial rather than being constrained to subdials. A second press of the 7:30 pusher stops them in their tracks, allowing you to record whatever event you just timed with your chronograph.

Now, here comes the best part. Press the pusher a third time, and the chronograph hour and minute hands fly back to hide behind the main hour and minute hands, which have continued to run unimpeded while the chrono was running, and the seconds hand starts again without resetting to continue the main timekeeping.

Silver stainless steel wristwatch with a textured blue dial and silver hour markers on a light blue surface. — Once the chronograph is reset, the watch goes back to looking like a plain ol’ three-hander.

Choreographing this complicated dance is a brand-new, in-house integrated chronograph movement. The Calibre PF053’s chronograph utilizes a column wheel plus three clutches, one vertical and two horizontal, in order to accomplish this first-of-its-kind complication.

The movement has a total of 362 components and boasts the same extremely high level of finishing we’ve come to expect from Parmigiani. It’s also an automatic with 60 hours of power reserve (while dressy, the Tonda PF is technically a sports watch line) and is wound via a 22K rose gold rotor.

The Chronograph Mystérieux is water resistant to 100m and is paired with a nigh-integrated stainless steel bracelet featuring a mix of satin-brushed and mirror-polished finishing and secured with a foldover clasp.

Silver stainless steel wristwatch with a textured light blue dial and silver hour markers worn on a wrist. — The entire dial is used to track the chronograph rather than a set of subdial registers.

Availability and pricing

While the Tonda PF GMT Rattrapante remains my favorite of this series from Parmigiani, it’s hard to argue with the genius of the new Chronograph Mystérieux. It’s easily one of the best watches from this year’s Watches and Wonders, and one of the most innovative chronographs I’ve ever seen.

Of course, this kind of innovation doesn’t come cheap, as the Tonda PF Chronograph Mystérieux is priced at $44,600. It will be available from PF ADs starting this June.

Silver stainless steel wristwatch with textured light blue dial and silver and orange hands.

Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Chronograph Mystérieux

Specs

Case Size	40mm
Movement	Parmigiani Fleurier Cal. PF053 automatic chronograph
Water Resistance	100m

$44,600 at Parmigiani Fleurier

About the Author:

Johnny Brayson is an editor at Gear Patrol mostly covering watches. He enjoys watches that are packed with blink-and-you’ll-miss-’em details and believes nearly every watch could stand to be a tad smaller.

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