Girard Perregaux

blomman Mr Blue
38586

• Show profile
• Show other posts

BaselWorld 2015: The origins of the Vintage 1945

The origins of the Vintage 1945 - aesthetic innovation meets high-level craftsmanship- the essence of Art Deco

Like the Tourbillon with Three Gold Bridges, the Vintage 1945 collection is rooted in the rich history of Girard-Perregaux. It started back in 1945, a year that will remain etched in our memories. At the time, watch design was inspired by Art Deco; major artistic movement that profoundly made its mark on architecture, interior design, fashion, painting and photography. The movement is based on the fundamental concepts of simplicity, geometry and structural coherence.

As a result, the right angle became poetic and understated forms aimed for perfection. Inspired by this creative explosion, in 1945 Girard-Perregaux designed a watch illustrating these principles. The watch featured a very simple structure with a arectangular case extended by lugs, symmetric design and curved sides incorporating the crown. Similarly, the alternation of materials - gold and steel – was characteristic of the Art Deco period.

Exactly fifty years later, in 1995, an original model of this watch reappeared in the collections of the Girard-Perregaux Museum. This was the origin of the collection called «Vintage 1945». Far from being a nostalgic reproduction, the new model was thoroughly redesigned to form a modern creation, firmly rooted in its time: its case was waterproof, the fragile hesalite crystal was replaced with scratchproof sapphire, the pressed dial gave way to a dial machined into a spherical shape and specially curved hands hugged its dome. However, its general appearance reflected the beautiful simplicity that characterized the original watch: rectangular angles highlighted by gadroons, elongated horns, curved case perfectly fitting the wrist and a discreetly integrated crown.

Also similar to the Tourbillon with Three Gold Bridges, the Vintage 1945 has since been constantly adapted. In fact their two stories rapidly met...

Like the 1945 original, the initial model of the contemporary series was fitted with a hand-winding mechanical movement, the GP 101 caliber. Several combinations of materials, between pink or yellow gold and steel, were proposed, as well as a wide range of dial variants. As of 1996, the GP 101 was replaced by the automatic calibers of the GP 3000 series. Able to change according to preference, they allowed the Vintage 1945 to display a multitude of functions, which are still available today. The ladies’ models and a metal strap appeared the same year.

The year 1999 saw the presentation of a variant to this global success: the automatic chronograph. The small volume of its GP 30C0 movement with column-wheel allowed Girard-Perregaux to offer, for the first time, a rectangular chronograph with dimensions adapted to any wrist, even women’s. It was manufactured in many versions in gold or steel. One of these was a special series dedicated to the Villa Marguerite, the Brand’s museum.

Why not combine the pure and symmetrical shapes of two emblems of Girard-Perregaux? The idea grew in the early 2000s and came to fruition in 2004: the Vintage 1945 Tourbillon with Three Gold Bridges was born, which summarized all of the Brand’s aesthetic and technical expertise. The watch was beautiful in every way, immediately recognizable, without the need to read the brand printed under the crystal. This foray into the field of Fine Watchmaking was not the only one: variants included a chronograph and perpetual calendar or perpetual calendar and equation of time, or split-second chronograph and jumping seconds.

In 2006 Girard-Perregaux presented what some consider the most amazing watch in recent years: the Vintage 1945 Jackpot Tourbillon. In addition to its impressive dimensions, its Tourbillon allows it to stand out mainly because its movement incorporated a slot machine mechanism, the famous «one-armed bandit» invented by Charles Fey in 1895. As with the original machine, the lever positioned on the side of the case could be pulled to rotate the drums. When they stopped randomly, a delicate jingling was heard. Disconcerting at first sight, it was nevertheless part of a long tradition, particularly strong in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when watch mechanisms used to entertain their owners.

Natives of La Chaux-de-Fonds include Charles-Edouard Jeanneret, known as Le Corbusier, one of the biggest names in modern architecture and design. In 2012, to celebrate the 125th anniversary of his birth, Girard-Perregaux decided to dedicate a trilogy of versions of the Vintage 1945 symbolizing the three cities where he worked: La Chaux-de-Fonds, Paris and Marseille. The materials used to make these watches, of which only 5 copies of each were made, were dear to Le Corbusier: steel, engraved metal, mother-of-pearl, leather and even concrete.

We have mentioned many milestones in the history of the Vintage 1945, which we are now celebrating the 70th anniversary of. However, the story of this magnificent watch is far from over. The watch remains an inexhaustible source of inspiration and continues to be the subject of numerous projects, which will no doubt yield some surprises.