Girard Perregaux Chronograph Carrée Classique 2498 Restoration

The watch that chase me.

Many months back a GP was offered to me and I passed.
At that time I was not familiar with the brand and, I don't really remember the details, I was hunting some other thing.

The seller sold the watch to another customer and I forgot about it.

Time passes and, the world is small, I bumped on the same watch that was being cared by my watchmaker for "a simple regulation". We chat a little bit about the movement and the fancy 70's style of the case. I do remember that he even measured the lugs because the owner mentioned that he wanted to try a leather strap.

More time passes and, again, the watch was with my watchmaker. Now the story was different. The owner forgot that the watch was not a diver watch and ... dived.

Wost. The owner complained with the original seller and ... returned the watch to the seller.

At this point, the watch as in real bad shape. Not only the guy dived (salt water) but let the watch dry and rust was taking place on some parts.

Summary: The poor GP was not working. Locked.

Again, time passes and I returned to my weekly visit to my watch maker and he show me the watch stating that they did a major work on it and they resurrected it to the former glory.

He advise me to grab the watch (the seller will sell it for a song - I love those songs) and when I manifest my concerns about water/rust he assure me that this should never be an issue after all work they did.

I trust him, in special after he offered to extend the guarantee (that he normally do for one year) for five years!

I called the seller and I sing my song (Guess what song?).
Of course the price dropped dramatically and ... the watch is mine.

Removed the steel bracelet and, is nice to have a good strap inventory, attached a good black 21mm CF strap and I'm a happy owner of a GP 2498.

The watch is working as a charm and the precision is just amazing.

Here is the photo history.

The movement pics are from my watchmaker team (they do this for every full cleaning):

The salt water effect. It seems that the water get in thru one of the chronograph pushers:

The dial was untouched

Here is the main damage

More damage details.

Washing/cleaning/removing the rust, part by part. Here they consumed long hours of work.

Oiled and reassembled to perfection

Movement is working better than a new one!

Movement back to the cleaned case. New gaskets and pressure tested.

Checking again, after some days of operation.

It's mine!

Thanks for reading.

A wonderful weekend to all,

Nilo