Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF Chronographe Mystérieux hands on – a world-first chronograph which hides in plain sight

While there's always a lot of amazing stuff to see at Watches and Wonders, this year one piece in particular felt like an extra special treat. Parmigiani Fleurier unveiled the Tonda PF Chronographe Mystérieux – a chronograph with no sub-dials and a distinct lack of visible extra hands.

Confused? So were we. Fortunately, I was on the ground in Geneva to get my hands on the watch and get to grips with how it all works.

In essence, the watch works by hiding a second pair of hour and minute hands on the central stack. When the chronograph isn't engaged, they tick along in perfect alignment with the hands you see.

The whole thing could easily – and is, in fact, designed to – be mistaken for a simple three-hand watch at first glance. But when you press an unassuming monopusher at the 7:30 position, everything comes to life.

The silver-toned hands seen on top snap back to the 12 o'clock position, and start to run as the chronograph indicators. Beneath the hour and minute hands, a pair of gold-toned appear, to keep the current time ticking away while the chronograph is in full flow.

Operation is as simple as you could wish for. Pushing once starts the chronograph, pushing a second time stops it, and pushing a third time resets it, and returns the hands to sit atop the current time indicators.

It's a world-first for this kind of movement, and deserves commendation for how simple it makes the complication. While chronographs can often be tough to read, with lots of information packed onto the dial, this feels no different to any other clean, three-hand watch.

Arguably as impressive as the operation itself is the way the case maintains good proportions. Overall, the case – crafted from a mix of stainless steel and platinum – sits just 40mm across and 13mm tall. That's no more than most traditional chronographs, and feels impressive for such a unique design.

The dial comes in a mineral blue hue, which is slightly more muted than the agave blue Tonda PF Micro-Rotor I tested recently. It's a lovely choice here, and feels mundane enough to be used everyday, but with enough personality to stand out in a sea of black-dialled dive watches.

Given the ingenuity involved in this design, I actually think the price is really reasonable. At £36,300 / €41,700 / US$44,600 (approx. AU$68,675), this isn't cheap, but it feels like exceptional value in the luxury space.

To put it into perspective, the Rolex GMT-Master II 'Pepsi' which was discontinued as part of the same show is currently trading for broadly the same price. If I had the cash burning a hole in my pocket, I know which way I'd go.