Brazil and football, Parmigiani scores double with its Transforma CBF

One of the main ways to build strong widespread popularity is to be associated with legends and their symbols. All the more so if the relationship is a long-term one and the parties concerned share the same values. In this case, the contract was signed until 2015. This means that the brand from Fleurier will accompany the famous Brazilian Football Confederation throughout 2014, the year it celebrates its hundredth anniversary. Impressive, right? In order to understand the stakes, we should highlight that the league joined FIFA in 1923 and by 2007 it already comprised of more than 18,100 football clubs! Moreover, world cups have continuously punctuated its history. One of its concerns is women’s football, with its national team as flagship model.

This is what Parmigiani Fleurier fittingly highlighted with the release of its Pershing CBF chronograph for women in 2013.

Football my love

It does make sense that a Swiss watchmaking brand would associate itself with an organism that manages Brazil national football team and Brazil women’s national football team. Especially as the CBF – via the five-time world champion Seleção – leads the Brazilian championship and the Brazil Cup, to take place in June 2014 precisely in Brazil. Moreover, Latin America’s Portuguese-speaking market is seen as a potential Eldorado. Besides, there is an existing partnership between the brand and “Olympique de Marseille” (OM), another football legend. Parmigiani will make the most of it all by introducing its long-term customers, its VIP friends, and its media relations to the world of football. In order to get closer to promising young talent, the brand has supported young Brazilian football geniuses by awarding a trophy to the best under-21 player of the year.

The official colors of the Brazilian Confederation – gold, blue and green – have been chosen for the timepieces produced under the aegis of this partnership.

Parmigiani Fleurier CBF Box

Among the timepieces specifically created for this union, there is the multifaceted Transforma set that includes a wristwatch, a pocket watch, and a timeless table clock, and this is thanks to the permutation of a single watch head. The CBF set, however, includes two watch heads instead of one. The first is a rather sportive and modern chronograph, in line with the original timepiece. The other one is an Annual Calendar housing the PF 339 (movement also featured in the Tonda Quator) whose tailor-made dial displays the image and the symbolism of the partnership. All in all, there are three possible transformations for two watch heads, both of which unquestionably represent the CBF. This set with a case consisting of drawers made with precious wood encompasses a sportive and urban exterior watch and a classic and elegant one. It is a pure sport-chic concept that adapts to Brazilian emblematic temperament by offering to read time on either the wrist or clock, or in the pocket.

The chronograph

The chronograph is driven by the energy of the caliber PF 334. The 43x12.80 mm case features the three basic functions, namely the hours, the minutes and the small second at 3 o’clock. In addition to that, there is an openworked calendar and a quarter-second chronograph proudly displaying its large second, its 30-minute counter and its 12-hour. Carbon has been used for the structure, water resistant to 3 atm (30 meters), whereas its support is made of polished steel. The anti-reflective sapphire crystal covers a black CBF graphite-plated galvanic dial with a circular satin-brushed interior, a guilloché center, and circular counters tinged with blue and applique indexes. The whole is swept by Delta-shaped hands, which are visible at night thanks to the luminescence material they have been coated with. Obviously, what with Hermès owning 25% of the brand’s capital, the deployment buckle with a large margin for adjusting, is made of first-class alligator leather. The caseback is engraved with an individual number and the inscription “Confederaçao Brasileira de Futebol”. This partnership is also discreetly alluded to through the colors of the league displayed on the chronometric counters’ hands as well as on the numbers of the tachometer scale.

Parmigiani Fleurier Transforma Chronograph CBF - wrist and pocket

The Annual Calendar

The second watch head, namely the Annual Calendar, features a “grain barley” center that symbolizes waves and is colored deep galvanic blue, loyal to the CBF’s pantone hue. Green is visible on the five stars sprinkled on the moon plate, which appear and disappear in a poetic celestial waltz in line with the yellow gold moon phases. Other than hours, minutes and seconds, the timepiece displays the days of the year with a complex mechanism which – once a year in February except on leap years – is automatically adjusted by jumping from 28February to 1 March directly without showing the 29, 30 and 31 boxes. This red gold piece also measures 43 mm and it can, too, be changed into a pocket watch or a self-winding table clock. The dial’s exterior is in opaline and its appliques time zone indexes divide the time through Delta-shaped hands. Its leather strap, its water resistance, and its finishes are the same as the ones used in the first watch.

Parmigiani Fleurier Annual Calendar CBF - wrist and pocket