A Parmigiani Fleurier exclusive perpetual calendar built around the Islamic Hijri calendar

More than just a calendar, the Tonda PF Hijri Perpetual Calendar was born out of Michael Parmigiani's passion for cultural calendars, and how civilizations each interpret time in unique ways, with these measurements acting as mirrors of the cultures which conceived them. This recognition of calendars as expressions of cultural diversity guides Parmigiani's design process, encouraging the Swiss independent maker to integrate the specificities of each society into each of its incredible timepieces.

The Tonda PF Hijri Perpetual Calendar is a horological expression of the Tabular Islamic calendar which was developed by Muslim scholars and astronomers in the 8th century. This system makes it possible for historians to convert Islamic dates to Gregorian dates and also makes the Hijri Perpetual Calendar possible. The first year of the Hijri calendar corresponds to the year 622 CE and is marked by the Prophet Muhammad’s Hijrah (Arabic for “migration”) from Mecca to Medina in modern-day Saudi Arabia. The lunar Hijri calendar is based on the cycles of the moon in comparison to the solar Gregorian calendar and lunisolar Chinese Xiali calendar. This makes for a 30-year cycle with each year consisting of 12 months that are 29 or 30 days long. In each 30-year cycle there are 19 common years consisting of 354 days and 11 abundant years consisting of 355 days.

Built around a 100m water-resistant stainless-steel case with alternating satin and polished finishes, the Tonda PF Hijri Perpetual Calendar is fitted with a fluted bezel is in 950 platinum and it is paired with a matching stainless-steel bracelet with folding clasp. The viridian green dial is hand finished with a Grain d’Orge guilloche. The applied hour markers and skeletonized delta hour and minute hands are crafted in 18k gold with rhodium plating. The second hand and calendar subdial hands are made of rhodium-plated steel.

Powering this spectacular complication is the Parmigiani manufacture PF009 automatic calibre, which operates at 28,800 vibrations per hour (4 Hz) and has a power reserve of 48 hours. The intricate movement has beveled bridges. The skeletonized rotor is chiseled from platinum with a polished and sandblasted finish. Like the case and dial, it is meticulously finished with Côtes de Genève and perlage throughout.

Though complicated, all of the relevant information is displayed on the dial, with the indicator for the year at 12 o’clock, the indicator for the months at 9 o’clock, then indicators for the days and moonphase with its contrasting Aventurine disc at 6 o’clock. Unique to the Hijri calendar, is how the yearly subdial also shows the 30-year cycle with the abundant 355-day years in beige and the standard 354-day years in white. The 3 o’clock subdial indicates the numbered months of the year with the ninth month of Ramadan highlighted in bright red. The 9 o’clock subdial shows the days of the month with an aperture indicating whether it is a 30-day abundant month or a 29-day common month. A white aperture indicates a 29-day month. The activated beige aperture indicates a 30-day month, with the number 30 in beige and written in Arabic as ۳۰ Finally, the 6 o’clock subdial features the blue aventurine moon phase display, which shows the position of the moon in the northern and southern hemispheres.

Specifications

Movement

• Calibre: PF009
• Parmigiani exclusive Hours, minutes, seconds, Hijri perpetual calendar and precision moon phase
• Winding: Manufacture Automatic calibre
• Frequency: 4 Hz - 28’800 A/h
• Power Reserve: 48 hours
• NB of components: 310
• NB of jewels: 32

Case

• Dimensions: 42.00 mm
• Material: Stainless steel case with 950 Platinum bezel
• Thickness: 11.2mm 
• Water-Resistance: 100 m
• Glass: ARunic anti-reflective sapphire
• Back: Sapphire

Dial

• Hands: Delta-shaped
• Finishing: "Guilloché Grain d'orge" (Barleycorn)
• Color: Viridian Green
• Index: Rhodium plated appliques

Bracelet

• Material: Stainless steel
• Clasp: Folding Clasp