Haute Horlogerie INNOVATION…

As you likely saw earlier today, Girard-Perregaux unveiled a revolutionary new piece addressing a fundamental challenge of watchmaking, a concept known as “constant force”.  It innovates on this challenge with a completely new architecture and escapement design.  While not the first constant force escapement for sure, Girard-Perregaux notes that unlike other systems that devise a constant force averaged over time, this is a true constant force escapement.  The GP constant escapement is complex in most regards, though more easily understood when seen visually.  Turns out the first patent — for a 14 micron silicon blade (which you can see above)– was filed back in 2008.  So we know that this piece is has at least a five year timeline of effort behind it.  The effort looks to have been well worth it – one look is all you need to know that the Constant Escapement is something special.
Click through for my in-depth explanation of how it all works

I mentioned earlier it has been a big week for Girard-Perregaux (did you the new Traveller collection yet?) — and here it is, the incredible new Constant Escapement.  Price tag on this will be  around $100k.  I’ll be back with a fuller explanation later today.

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UPDATE:  See my In-Depth review — “The Girard-Perregaux Constant Escapement Explained” here>>>

Well, you know from my prior post that this has been a big day of announcements from GP.  And now that I’ve given an in-depth run down on the new Traveller ww.tc, let’s take a look at an entirely new model in the Traveller collection.  Though not an elegantly named watch, the new “Moon Phases and Large Date”  is certainly an elegant watch.  Several references will be offered; shown here is the model with opaline dial and 44 steel case (Ref. 49650-11-131-BB6A).  A black dial + steel case is also being produced (Ref. 49650-11-631-BB6A) as is a gay dial + ceramic bezel + steel case (Ref. 49650-82-231-HBBA). No word on price of these models, yet.
Click through to explore the new Girard-Perregaux Traveller Moon Phase/Large Date

Well, you know from my prior post that this has been a big day of announcements from GP.  Let’s go ahead and take a deeper dive, starting with the new “Traveller ww.tc”.   Around since 2000, the ww.tc is certainly a recognized icon of the brand and one of the more prominent world timers in all of high watchmaking.  As it joins the new Traveller collection, a refresh of the ww.tc seems appropriate. Shown here is one of four new references. It has an opaline dial and a 44mm steel case (Ref. 49700-11-133-BB6B). Matte black dial + steel case, silvered opaline + titanium case (Ref. 49700-21-132-HBBB), and silvered opaline + black ceramic bezel + steel case (Ref. 49700-82-131-BB6C) will also be offered.
Click through to see my analysis of the new wwTC

Some fairly big news out of Girard-Perregaux today.  The brand has introduced a groundbreaking new constant-force escapement  (I’ll get to that in a separate post), and they have also introduced a new collection, the Traveller.  The Traveller collection joins the recently launched Hawk collection, as well as the Vintage 1945 and the 1966 collections.  Unlike the “ww.tc” moniker which I believe always meant little to non-GP fans, “Traveller” of course speaks for itself.   Thus it also makes perfect sense why, it appears, the ww.tc collection is being folded into the Traveller collection (much like the Sea Hawk was folded into the new Hawk collection).  And, the ww.tc has also gotten a very nice makeover, too.

In short — it is apparent that the good folks at Girard-Perregaux have been very busy lately, and in a very good way.  After quite a few years of perhaps playing it safe (nice new watches each year, but not a tremendous amount of innovation or new designs, per se), we have seen already in 2013 the new Hawk collection (folding in the iconic, though newly designed, Sea Hawk) and now the Traveller collection.  And then there is the new Constant Escapement watch, which, well, is a real achievement.  Next up, I’ll take a closer look at the new Traveller collection — including the redesigned ww.tc.

UPDATE:

“In-Depth” Review of the new Traveller ww.tc here>>>

“In-Depth” Review of the new Traveller Moon Phase/Large Date here>>>

Girard Perregaux Chrono Hawk Brazil (Photo credit: Shaun Vakil)

A couple nights ago in Miami, Girard-Perregaux unveiled a limited edition (“LE”) of its new Chrono Hawk model.  As a reminder to Perpetuelle readers,  GP recently launched its new “Hawk” collection – basically it was a major redesign/relaunch of what used to just the Sea Hawk collection, with a new look and two models “Chrono” and “Sea”.  This was a big deal for the brand, whose has in recent years has streamlined its portfolio to four main families, including the Hawk.  Anyway, as for this new LE, it was launched in partnership with the Instituto Tênis in support of Brazil’s young sports talents in Miami.  The  evening was headlined by several  Brazilian sports legends and stars including Brazilian Tennis Davis Cup Team members including Thomaz Bellucci, Bruno Soares (#1 Brazilian ATP World Doubles Player), Thiago Alves and Marcelo Melo along with former Soccer player Antonio de Oliveira Filho better known as “Careca”.

Full specs and pricing on the click

Limited exclusively to 10 pieces in red gold and 10 in white gold, this 1966 Chronograph “Doctor’s Watch” will be offered exclusively at Dubail boutique at Place Vendôme in Paris.  This obviously ‘retro’ watch is different from other GP 1966 chronos on a few counts including (most prominently) the bold orange circle, font style, and of course presence of pulsometer scale.  As I’ve discussed in the past, I am a fan of pulsometers / pulsographe watches and the nostalgia they bring to me.  We’ll take a closer look at this watch — and an original from the 1940s, below.
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Girard-Perregaux recently announced the 1966 Small Seconds and Date watch, available in two versions.  At 41mm, the pink gold case maintains the slightly larger case (+3mm) for the 1966 collection, as I first discussed last October (see: Girard-Perregaux 1966 41mm, Oct. 2012).  Along with the larger case size is the larger, automatic mechanical GP01890-0003 caliber with pink gold rotor, designed and made in the GP workshops.  A closer look at this pair of elegant wristwatches, below.
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Girard-Perregaux is out with a new, superb and highly complicated piece of in its “1966″ series, one of the brand’s four foundational collections.  This watch, which will retail for $287,000, combines a Minute Repeater, Annual Calendar & Equation of Time (EoT) and will be limited to just 15 pieces.  This piece largely follows the design codes of the GP 1966 Annual Calendar & Equation of Time (sans minute repeater), though with the ante upped by the addition of a minute repeater (which itself required +2mm added to case size), it is good to also see a few subtle but noteworthy enhancements to the dial.  I’ll run it all down for you, below.
Click through for more looks at this $287,000 beauty

Behold, the new and redesigned Girard-Perregaux Sea Hawk.  The launch of these watches coincides with the new and equally appealing Chrono Hawk watches also profiled today at Perpetuelle.  On the left is the new production model available in black (Ref. 49960-19-631-FK6A) or grey dial (Ref 49960-11-131-FK6A); on the right is a special edition (Ref 49960-19-1218SGD1A).

The famous Girard-Perregaux Sea Hawk originated in the 1940′s; the current collection was designed in 2002 and will presumably now be replaced with this new style gong forward.  The centerpiece of the redesign is the new case style — to draw an analogy, the case has gone from the B17 Bomber of WWII to the B2 Stealth Bomber of 2012.  The new case along with many other new details have elevated the Sea Hawk dive watch back into the limelight.
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