Giuliano Mazzuoli Manometrino from Giuliano Mazzuoli Watches, Florence, Italy

In 2012 Giuliano Mazzuoli Watch introduced a new timepiece, alongside its existing Giuliano Mazzuoli Manometro, Giuliano Mazzuoli ContaGiri and Giuliano Mazzuoli Trasmissione Meccanica models, the diminutive Giuliano Mazzuoli Manometrino. While the Giuliano Mazzuoli Manometrino is clearly a member of the world renowned Manometro collection, it is a Manometro with a difference, that has itself spawned a half-brother, or perhaps half-sister, the Giuliano Mazzuoli Manometrino Pocket Watch.

The Giuliano Mazzuoli Manometro has of course, become an object lesson in contemporary Italian design, notable not only for its ‘repurposing’ of the pressure gauge, offering a true facsimile of almost every characteristic detail of the original object which inspired its creation, not least the dial face layout with perfect legibility and single crown located at 2 o’clock, but also for the functionality of its unique lugless mechanism for securing the watch’s frequently black strap. While the legendary cylindrical case, pressure gauge inspired, clock dial design, Swiss design movement Giuliano Mazzuoli Manometro watch from Giuliano Mazzuoli Watches in Florence, Tuscany, Italy, was never exclusively a men’s watch, with a large stainless steel, carbon fiber, rose gold and titanium, cement or Carrara marble case diameter of some 48 mm, it has always been a statement timepiece. The statement was heard loud and clear when friend of Giuliano Mazzuoli, Lapo Elkann, heir to the Fiat dynasty with a keen fashion sense, was noticed wearing his Mazzuoli Manometro, rapidly popularizing the handcrafted in Tuscany timepiece and the watch eventually garnering such worldwide acclaim. Back in 2012 Mazzuoli himself was relatively new to the world of watchmaking, and just like the Giuliano Mazzuoli family brand logo of a sun, as he had done in previous design work, for example where he channeled the Alfonso Bialetti classic coffee maker design into his ‘Moka’ pen collection, Mazzuoli was able to shine new light into the watchmaking world, unbound by convention.

Mazzuoli, remembering the fashion for ‘unisex’ of the ‘60s and ‘70s, conceived the idea of a miniaturized Manometro,  still faithful to almost every characteristic detail of the original object, the pressure gauge which inspired its creation, but in place of a large stainless steel, carbon fiber, rose gold and titanium, cement or Carrara marble case with a diameter of 48 mm, the Giuliano Mazzuoli Watches Firenze Italy Manometrino would feature a much smaller case, of only 27 !mm diameter, in either polished stainless steel case or PVD coated stainless steel case versions, both with a smaller Switzerland made ETA automatic movement once again, and a black, Italian designed, hand crafted in Italy, calf skin leather strap.

The Giuliano Mazzuoli Watches Firenze Italy Manometrino was thus able to tap into all the characteristic detail of the original object, the pressure gauge, which had inspired the creation of the original Manometro, including the cylindrical case shape with beautifully rounded bezel shape, the dial face layout with perfect legibility and single crown located at 2 o’clock, and of course, the functionality of the unique lugless mechanism for securing the watch’s frequently black, hand crafted in Italy calf skin leather strap. The Giuliano Mazzuoli Watches Firenze Italy Manometrino would offer a black dial featuring essential information only, just like the original object, with parallel sided hours and minute hands in white providing excellent contrast against the black dial face, and seconds indicated by a red pointer seconds hand against an almost railroad looking seconds indicator track. The translation of the larger case of 48 mm into the polished stainless steel or gunmetal color PVD coated steel of the Manometrino had absolutely no impact on the original design’s perfect legibility. The proportionally oversized watch crown, was once again placed at the 2 o’clock position as per the original watches, and similarly adorned with the Giuliano Mazzuoli design family from Tuscany, Italy’s house logo of a pictorial sun. Similarly, the exquisitely designed and hand crafted in Tuscany, Italy black calf skin leather strap was just like its bigger brothers (or sisters), inserted directly in the case without the use of traditional watch case lugs. In the place of case lugs, the Giuliano Mazzuoli Watches Firenze Italy Manometrino uses a miniature pair of wedges which form a hinged joint when the strap is inserted directly into the case, allowing the calf skin leather strap to hug the wrist of the weather in an extremely comfortable manner. At the heart of the watch sits a wonderful example of Italy – Swiss design, the Giuliano Mazzuoli Watches Firenze Italy Manometrino housing an ultra-reliable ETA movement featuring solely hours, minutes and seconds functions, ample power reserve and water resistance down to 50m or 165’.

Not content with the production of a unisex watch with obvious appeal as both an unpretentious men’s and ladies’ watch, its diminutive size in perfect proportion to its older brothers in the Giuliano Mazzuoli Manometro Collection of watches, Mazzuoli was convinced that the concept could be further extended, with the production of a version of the Manometrino that was not to be worn around the wrist but rather as a pocket watch, a neglected sector that has had to put up with timepieces of smartphone dimensions and certainly little in the way of the hand crafted design excellence embodied by the Giuliano Mazzuoli Manometro family. Thus was born the half-brother (or half-sister) to the Giuliano Mazzuoli Manometrino watch, the Giuliano Mazzuoli Manometrino Pocket Watch, a playful rendering of the concept, with no straps inserted directly in the case and in their place not a gold chain of the pocket watches of years gone by, but a practical (and rather entertaining), rubber tube lanyard, complete with articulated joints. A joint on the rubber tube lanyard allows the Giuliano Mazzuoli Manometrino Pocket Watch to be secured to whatever the ‘wearer’ desires. Practicality has meant that the re-proportioned large size crown has been repositioned on the Giuliano Mazzuoli Manometrino Pocket Watch version of the Manometrino to the 3 o’clock rather than the traditional Manometro 2 o’clock position also. Just as with the Manometrino, there are no exotic case material such as carbon fiber, rose gold and titanium, cement or Carrara marble to be found in the Giuliano Mazzuoli Manometrino pocket watch, the offering being either a polished stainless steel case or gunmetal gray PVD coated steel case, but the Manometrino Pocket Watch does, in addition to the black dial face of the regular unisex Manometrino wrist watch, offer a choice of two other dial face colors.

Giuliano Mazzuoli Watches Firenze Italy Manometrino offer all the playfulness, design cache, rugged reliability of a Switzerland manufactured ETA movement and benefits that the entire family of hand crafted in Tuscany, Italy, Giuliano Mazzuoli Manometro Collection of watches are renowned for, but on an undoubtedly more subtle, less ‘statement making’ level, and at a size to suit both men and women. Particularly when available pre-owned, the price for one of these miniature jewels is reasonable to say the least too, and for any watch collector, might make an ideal gift for their partner.