Do away with your preconceived notions of watch colour and size, because while pink, or Alta Rosa, as declared by the watchmaker, may seem like it is designed for daintier wrists, this could not be further from the truth. In fact, you should maintain this doubt with every watch produced in Parmigiani Fleurier’s manufacture, because all their offerings cannot be pigeonholed that easily.

The brand has always been about restrained luxury, and while it always has simplicity at the forefront of its designs, that does not mean its watches are simple. Take into consideration the Tonda GMT Rattrapante or the Toric Perpetual Calendar, which take popular complications and tone the designs down one level lower than we’d expect.

It’s the same for this Tonda PF Automatic 36mm Alta Rosa. At face value (quite literally), you get a two-handed watch. Simple, right? But just like its previous iterations, this watch also sports a guilloché dial—one that looks like a flat finishing from a distance, but becomes increasingly complex the closer you get to it. Plus, there’s the added element of the dials finished by hand that makes every line even more impressive. Now look at that finishing and tell me this is a simple watch. I dare you.

The indices are halved in length when compared to other watches. Not so much that you find it hard to tell the time, but not so little that it doesn’t make a difference. On top of all that, you have skeletonised hands that are solid just at the tips, everything balanced just well enough to be legible. It’s easy to take this minimalism for granted, but the more you look at watches, the more you realise how much thought has gone into Parmigiani Fleurier’s designs.

As the name suggests, this is a 36mm watch, and while size preference is subjective, we can’t think of any other dimensions that will do justice to this elegance. Further adding to that is the slimness of 8.6mm. Now that is class.

It is simple and petite enough to be a dress watch, and it would’ve been categorised that way in our eyes, if not for the slight sportiness brought on by the integrated stainless steel bracelet. Its 100-metre water resistance does lend to the sporty vibes too, but you can’t fault a watch for being robust now, can you? This is where the rose tone works to soften the watch, placing it squarely between a formal and an everyday watch.

Equally robust—though not in a rough-and-tumble sort of way—is the power reserve, which runs up to 60 hours at 28,800 vibrations per hour, through the PF770 automatic movement. Even here, visible thanks to the see-through caseback, the movement adopts simplicity, but is far from simple. Yes, at a glance, you may only see the bridges and skeletonised rotor, but just like the other elements of this watch, further examination always provides more to appreciate, such as the Geneva stripes and bevelled edges.

What this all boils down to is that the Alta Rosa is a spectacle no matter where you look, but it’s not the type of beauty that jumps out at you. Instead, it’s a watch you have to get to know, and judging from what it has to offer, it’ll be a very fruitful relationship indeed.