Although the world of watches has not yet been subject to the same level of randomly-select-two-names-written-on-pieces-of-paper-from-inside-a-bag-and-produce-something trend that has taken over consumer products of all types and at all price points, there has been an increasing variety in the types of cross-product brand relationships.
Today’s is not unusual in that it’s an established watch brand creating something for a fashion brand, and of course there is a history of watch brands (and corporations) being behind watches that are not of their own branding – indeed one only need to look at Emporio Armani watches, which are made by Fossil. But although there was an announcement made of this collaboration two years ago, the result is still a level of unexpectedness in the fact of Giorgio Armani asking Parmigiani Fleurier to make a limited edition luxury watch for them. This is not like the URWERK and Timothy Everest collaboration.
I’d be curious to know how many Armani customers who are not ‘watch people’ are familiar with Parmigiani.
Meet the “Giorgio Armani 11”. Named after the street number of the Armani HQ on Via Borgonuovo, Milan, it is a numbered limited edition coming in either stainless steel, 18kt rose or yellow gold 40mm cushion-shaped cases.
The case is 40mm and has a crown with a black spinel cabuchon. There are a total of five variants, with dials in grey or blue for the stainless steel variant (50 pieces each), ivory or gunmetal grey for the 18kt rose gold model (35 and 25 pieces respectively), and black for the 18kt yellow gold model (40 pieces).
The dials have, along with the time and a centre seconds, a moon phase at 6 o’clock. The ‘11’ of the name is indicated by an Arabic 11 interrupting the indices at 11 o’clock and the fashion nod is the stamped herringbone pattern.
On the case back is the information that it is made for Armani by Parmigiani, and a sapphire case back, through which can be seen the automatic Parmigiani Fleurier Calibre PF047 with a metal-matched rotor, and again decorated with a herringbone pattern. It beats at 28,000 VPH and has a power reserve of 50 hours.
Coming on an an alligator leather strap with a matching metal pin buckle, the RRP ranges from AUD 32,000 to 66,000/ USD 20,000 to 40,000. It is available from selected Giorgio Armani branches, and you can check for you nearest one at this link. For those in Australia, it’s Melbourne.
[Photo credit: Giorgio Armani/ Parmigiani Fleurier]
Categories: Limited Editions, Parmigiani, Watch Profile, watches, Women's watches
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