Parmigiani Fleurier: Hijri Perpetual Calendar

Parmigiani Fleurier presents Hijri Perpetual Calendar, the first wristwatch enriched with the complication of the Islamic Perpetual Calendar.

The development of this complication dates back to 1993 with the restoration of a pocket watch by Michel Parmigiani, three years before the creation of the Parmigiani Fleurier brand. This led Mr. Parmigiani to the creation of a table clock featuring a Hijri Calendar in 2011- a world’s first as no lunar calendar had ever been designed to operate continuously. This piece of exception was inspired by his work restoring a simple Hijri Calendar.

In the Muslim world, the calendar is based on the cycles of the moon. The Hijri or Islamic lunar calendar consists of twelve months of 29 or 30 days -depending on the moon phase- and is used to pinpoint the days for Islamic holidays. In contrast to the solar calendar, which is used in the west, the months of the lunar calendar change annually by a difference of 10 to 12 days. As a result, each month always falls on a different season and therefore varies from the Gregorian Calendar.

The starting point of Islamic time calculations is the emi- gration of the Prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Medina in present-day Saudi Arabia in the year 622, known as Hijri, and is when the first Muslim community was founded.

This new Hijri Perpetual Calendar features a 44.5 mm platinum case combined with a brass dial slate colored with skeleton delta-shaped hands. On the dial it shows the hours, minutes, date in Arabic numerals and the name and length of the months in Arabic calligraphy, as well as the abundant and the common years. At 6 o’clock it also features a moon phase in an aventurine sky. Visible through the sapphire case back, the Automatic Calibre PF009 with platinum rotor guarantees 48 hours of power reserve.

Every detail has been thought of and this stunning timepiece includes Arabic architecture inspired elements – the bridges adopt the shape of growing and shrinking crescent moons and the Rub el Hizb, an Islamic symbol represented by two overlapping squares.

The new Parmigiani Fleurier Hijri Perpetual Calendar is fitted with a black Hermès alligator strap with a pin buckle. (Price € 80.000)