PARMIGIANI FLEURIER CELEBRATES ITS 30TH ANNIVERSARY IN TOKYO WITH “MECHANICAL WONDERS”

To mark its 30th anniversary, Parmigiani Fleurier presents Mechanical Wonders, an exhibition exploring the transmission and evolution of the mechanical arts across three centuries.

Held at 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT GALLERY 3 in Tokyo from 19 to 24 September 2026, the exhibition brings together, for the first time in Japan, an exceptional selection of historic mechanical masterpieces from the Maurice Sandoz Collection, preserved by the Fondation Édouard et Maurice Sandoz (FEMS) and restored by Michel Parmigiani, founder of Parmigiani Fleurier.

Rarely accessible to the public, these remarkable objects from the early 19th century bear witness to an era in which watchmakers, craftsmen and inventors pushed mechanics far beyond the measurement of time. From intricately constructed pocket watches to automata, they unite mechanical ingenuity, decorative arts and the fascination of objects brought to life through movement.

Presented in dialogue with contemporary creations by Parmigiani Fleurier, they reveal something more profound than a historical continuity: a way of thinking about watchmaking that begins with understanding what came before.

RESTORATION AS A CULTURE OF CREATION

Long before founding Parmigiani Fleurier in 1996, Michel Parmigiani devoted himself to the restoration of exceptional historic timepieces and mechanical objects.

Restoration taught him to look before intervening, to understand the intention of a maker through construction, proportion, materials and technique, and to preserve an object without altering its identity.

This discipline of observation became one of the intellectual foundations of Parmigiani Fleurier.

For the Maison, restoration, creation and innovation are therefore not separate practices. They belong to the same culture of mechanical understanding. The knowledge acquired through historical masterpieces continues to inform the development of movements, complications and contemporary watchmaking creations.

In Mechanical Wonders, the restored objects of the Maurice Sandoz Collection and the contemporary creations of Parmigiani Fleurier are not presented simply side by side. They enter into a dialogue across time.

Together, they reveal a continuous pursuit: to understand the mechanical arts deeply enough to carry them forward.

MECHANICAL WONDERS IN TOKYO

Tokyo provides a particularly resonant setting for this encounter between preservation and creation.

The exhibition addresses an audience familiar with cultures of craftsmanship, material sensitivity and connoisseurship, inviting visitors not simply to observe extraordinary objects, but to look more closely at the intelligence, imagination and human knowledge contained within them.

For six days only, Mechanical Wonders offers a rare opportunity to discover masterpieces seldom seen outside their collection and to explore the culture of restoration from which Parmigiani Fleurier itself was born.