The time has come for the red rose to bloom. Parmigiani Fleurier has presented Rosa Mystica, the latest in a series of five unique pieces in its Grand Feu Collection, introduced in December 2022 with the Rosa Celeste and its blue Grand Feu enamel.

On this new creation signed by the maison, a magistral red Grand Feu enamel adorns the dial and the engraved ‘Rose Carrée’ on the back of this exceptional novelty.

This miracle of red fire is embellished with a natural garnet cabochon on the 18-karat white gold case, adding finesse to the magnificence of the hand engraving.

Rosa Mystica and the other creations in the Grand Feu collection are an ode to traditional craftsmanship. The enamellers, engravers, chain makers and many other artists are the "golden hands" devoted to the Maison Parmigiani Fleurier that shape and tame the material with mastery.

Between the petals of this horological flower, Parmigiani Fleurier has concealed a manually wound minute repeater calibre with cathedral gongs. Its skeletonisation and bevelling bring together the best of Parmigiani Fleurier's watchmaking expertise and craftsmanship in a unique and poetic piece.

The watch case is mounted on a hand-sewn alligator leather strap in red, the reverse side of which is also in alligator leather. With a diameter of 42 mm, the case is cut from white gold blocks. The bezel, lugs and caseband are hand-engraved with the La Rose Carrée motif. These notches are engraved with a chisel into the hard surfaces of the metal, one inside the other in an algorithmic progression. This work requires extreme precision, an impressive investment of time, and a steady hand that is ensured by years of experience.

A hinge, located at 2 o'clock on the reverse side of these unique pieces, articulates the hunter caseback. Its outer face bears a large square fractal rose, also hand-engraved and covered with multiple layers of coloured enamel. On its other side, these unique pieces feature a dial of solid white gold, with a surface engraved by hand. Countless small carvings are made with immaculate regularity throughout the breadth and depth of the dial. Once the surface has been prepared, the enameller takes over and applies the same shade as on the hunter caseback, striving for an identical level of nuance and a play of light made possible by the depth of the work done by the artisanal engraver.

In both cases, on the dial and the cover, the technique used is Grand Feu enamel. Each gold element is first covered with enamel from crushed glass, ground finer in each layer, pigmented with metallic oxides and shaded with the colour of the base metal. The firing process is carried out at a high temperature, 800 degrees Celsius, and must be controlled and repeated for each of the six layers applied. Each firing melts and glazes the enamel but also runs the risk of re-firing the lower, already glazed layers. The precision of the temperatures, times, materials, and pigments plays a crucial role here.