DonRestarone
20
a forgotten piece of high horology? ref 9050 an endearing 1990's (ultra) slim dress watch
The last time the forum saw a 9050 was almost a decade ago. So I'm declaring it an elusive piece and sharing my own 9050. It rekindled my love for watches after a multi-year-long hiatus. This is the type of watch for the long time collector who's looking to explore the depths of high watchmaking with a wearable and timeless design.
Facts;
- GP calibre 3000 is an automatic movement that is 2.98mm thick and used in the Vacheron Overseas and Cartier Pasha. Finished with Geneva stripes, perlage, and chamfered edges
- Case thickness is 7.5mm
- 35mm diameter
- 18K yellow gold and weighs approximately 40 grams
What I find interesting
- multi step dial, there is a recessed subdial for seconds and a subtle perimeter mark running inside of the Roman numerals
- Applied Roman numerals that are highly detailed with rounded extremities
- Heat Blued seconds hand
- "black polished" dauphine hands
- Seconds subdial at 9 o clock is uncommon and leads to an interesting 3rd person view of the watch on the wrist (looks like a monopusher chronograph) - likely to fly under most enthusiasts radar
- Caseback is entirely flat, much more comfortable than a standard bubble back automatic
- Domed sapphire crystal
- Hand engraved serial number
- Early application of an exhibition caseback (90's)
- Ceramic ball bearing based unidirectional winding system sounds and feels marvelous, with a smooth and satisfying ratcheting sound.
red & gold combo
highly decorated cal 3000 movement
barrel shaped case
signed crown
blued hands light play
a forgotten piece of high horology? ref 9050 an endearing 1990's (ultra) slim dress watch
The last time the forum saw a 9050 was almost a decade ago. So I'm declaring it an elusive piece and sharing my own 9050. It rekindled my love for watches after a multi-year-long hiatus. This is the type of watch f or the long time collector who's looking...
looking to learn more - extract from the archives?
Thank you! Curious about production numbers of GP and decoding serial numbers. I've requested an extract from the archives. Lets see what that turns up!
Warm welcome to WatchProSite
and thank you for sharing this delightful model and example from GP! That’s quite an entrance you’re making here! Best, Emmanuel
Welcome!
Cool GP not often seen! Which looks to be a Neo Vintage example to me. Singapore Marc is our resident GP expert, surely he’ll reply to this thread if he sees it. Enjoy!
I only know GP neo vintage “fairly” well
1990-2010 Ok, and current production as well. Vintage, I’m not so familiar. 😅
Welcome to the forum 🎉🎊🎈
And a lovely watch for sure! Not one that has been written about recently 😊
based on the archive findings, I have strong reason to believe this reference 9050 was provided to VC as a cal 3000 test mule
as we know, VC overseas used this movement as an ebauche (GP calibre 3000==VC 1310/1311) in their first generation overseas. Given what's told in the archive extract; "It was the first model to ever to be equipped with the new in-house caliber GP 3000" --...
Excellent. Thanks for sharing this with us Don
So a few things: 1. Mathilde is a manager and runs the GP heritage Dept. As you probably know already. 2. Interesting to note that the ref 9050 was with first GP ref to receive the new calibre 3000 (no date). The laureato 8010 was the first GP reference t...
thanks for the clarification!
Ah yes, thanks for the correction on the GP calibre used by VC. 3100 would be a 3000 with the date complication right? The dimensions of my 9050 are approximately 35mm in diameter and 7.5mm in height
Welcome 🫶🏼
Yes, cal 3100 is with the date function. Cal 3000 is without the date function. Thanks for the dimensions. The 7.5 mm height is close to the height of the laureato 8010 at 7.9 mm. 🤝
Superb post. Neo vintage for those who know
This is what we wanna see more of. I’ll read more later but just wanted to say lovely 9050 first. 🫶🏼
That's a very nice one and some "Italian style"
G'day, as far as i recall the Classique Elegance line debuted in 1994, about the time Gino Macaluso became head of Girard-Perregaux in 1992. Previously the brand did have an elegant line of watches of the same name, but with ETA/Peseux movements and not a...
a small addition
PS: The most rare of these Classique Elegance models probably are the sceletons. These were manually sceletonized and hand-engraved with gold-plated movements and made in very limited quantities, i'd guess not more than 25 units over all. Cheers, Peter
your expertise and time is highly appreciated!
Hey Peter! Thanks for the info on the background and similar references. I looked up the references you mentioned and saw some pieces I really liked! This watch has set me off on a hunt to learn more about the curious placement of the seconds sub dial, I ...