S.U.F PARONI
Inspired by Finland’s motorcyling legend, Jarno “Paroni” Saarinen, S.U.F created its Paroni watch to honour the memory of the skilled daredevil – a childhood hero of the brand’s founding watchmaker, Stepan Sarpaneva.
Jarno Saarinen
Saarinen, fondly known as “The Flying Finn”, won the Grand Prix title back in 1972 and remains the only Finn to have ever done so. That following year, at the fourth Grand Prix of the season at Monza, Italy, he was well on to his way to securing a second title, but crashed into Renzo Pasolini who had lost control of his bike in front. Unfortunately the crash proved to be fatal for both racers, and 13 other racers were seriously injured in the pile-up.
A qualified mechanical engineer, Saarinen was famous for tuning and maintaining his bikes himself – a great asset to Yamaha, whom he helped to develop one of the fastest machines of the time. Just one of his daring modifications, to enhance his signature “hang-off” style, Saarinen lowered the handle bars and angled them downwards at an extreme angle.
The legend of the “Paroni” still lives strong, in both memory and S.U.F.’s long-time horological tribute:
a solidly built wristwatch, driven by a fine-tuned Swiss Soprod A10 mechanical movement, crowned by a dial whose racy red and white design directly echoes The Flying Finn’s iconic helmet art.