Girard Perregaux

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Girard-Perregaux 1966, 38 mm in White Gold - On the wrist review

Friends,

I promised you a on the wrist review of the Girard-Perregaux 1966, 38 mm in white gold. I was expecting to test this watch to the limit! Checking all aspects of accuracy, visibility, comfort…

You name it; I thought that I really should do thorough test of this watch! Instead a medical emergency happened in the family and I had to spend most of my days rushing back and forth between emergency rooms and hospitals…

During all this personal stress, you may understand my focus was not on how accurate the watch performed or how well I could read time in the dark… 

The only thing I actually did as planned was to wear the watch the full three weeks! Actually, I wore it four weeks before strapping on any other watch on my wrist. 

For you to understand how hard just to fulfill the “one watch” commitment was for me I will let you in on a secret…  

Normally I NEVER wear the same watch two days in a row! Often I wear at least two or maybe three watches during one day. I wear one watch during my work day and another one or two at home. Only time I wear the same watch more than one day in a row is when I go on vacation to a place where it is not practical or safe to bring many watches.  

Yes, even when hiking in the mountains I bring more watches than the days I will be gone from home… 

The first couple of days during this test everything was still OK at home and it felt strange to wear the same watch each day. But then all the trouble started and it was a big comfort looking down on this beauty! Just to admire the watch and flee from the stress, if just for a micro second!

I didn’t have the chance to really check the accuracy of the watch but during these four weeks it kept well within COSC Chronometer specifications (-4/+6 seconds per day). 

The 46 hours power reserve is actually in the lower range of the movement capacity. During three days I was alone with Junior and didn’t have time to think about watches or strap on a watch. But on the third day when I picked up the watch it was still running. 

I had plans to bring the watch out on many different daytrips and shoot a lot of photos in different places… Well, that didn’t work out as planned either, but at least I managed to take a few snapshots, often with my phone camera. You see some of them included here. 

Autumn season…

Using the watch at work…

After that everything changed and all became a blur with dippers, bottles and hospitals…

A few times when the sun came out I stepped outside just to breath.

So, what can I tell you about this watch?

Esthetically this watch is a very classic looking watch. 38 mm in diameter. A good size for a dress watch, not too small, not too big.  

The white silver dial, the white gold leaf hands, the applied index and the shape of the white gold case, all of these details scream classic dress watch! 

The heated blue second’s hand enhances this feeling. I just love to look at the second’s hand sweeping over the silver dial! Almost hypnotizing…

If the watch had been just a couple of millimeters smaller, you might have thought it was a vintage watch from the 60’s… 

What bring this watch to current days and make it more modern are date window. The way the edges are angulated.  Without that detail, in photo it would have been hard to tell if this watch was from the 50’s, 60’s or today.  Yes, I know that some used this angulation already in the 60’s but more often with straight edges or with a frame.  

The white gold case has the “typical” GP shape with short curved lugs, not as curved as on the larger cased watches but still curved, making the watch very comfortable on the wrist. 

The warmer tone of the white gold is not possible to mistake for steel. Even if white color metal, the case has a warm feeling about it!

Some may think the crown may be difficult to operate due to size, but if you look at this photo you see that the case sides are not straight, they are slightly rounded which makes a small gap between the crown and the case. So very easy to pull the crown and set the time and date.

The different positioning’s of the crown are distinct and the feeling when winding the crown is firm and gives you a “controlled” feeling even if it is an automatic movement.

The pink gold rotor is beautifully decorated. Only thing is that I would like the opening on the back to be larger or even better, if it would have been a manual movement inside!

Strap and buckle. As Bill pointed out when I started this test, there are two types of strap for the GP 1966. One strap type with rolled edges and the type shown here with a seam along the edges. Not sure which one I prefer, but I think the one with rolled edges gives the watch an even more elegant look.

The strap is of high quality and flat. A detail I really like! Some Manufactures makes wonderful watches but are a bit cheap on the strap which makes the whole watch experience to fail…

Another detail is the pin buckle, again according to my preferences. I always have difficulties to make the folded buckles to sit comfortable on the wrist. The buckle is also very flat which makes it easy to have under the cuffs of your shirt and avoid scratching or get stuck in things. 

All in all, I love this watch! It helped me through a very difficult time! Just to be able to look down for a second and see this beauty helped me clear my mind from all bad that was happening… 

Would I buy this watch? 

Already from the start it was made clear to me that if I wanted to get one watch like this it would not be this exact watch. This one I have to return to the Manufacture. Of course I could get one exact like this but not this one.  

So, if I can’t have this exact watch that was beside me during all this, should I get one like it? 

I am still a bit undecided on this point, but one thing is for sure: I need a GP 1966 in my collection! 

If it is this 38 mm or another version, maybe with some more complications I am not sure… But I do need a 1966 in my life! One version that was in my mind already before this test and never really disappeared from my eyes is the Enamel dial, sub seconds in pink gold…  

Friends, I am very sorry for this “On the wrist review” to take such a different and personal turn. Not really what I or you expected, I guess.  

I like to thank you all here for the support shown to me and my family during this test. In the end it was not the watch that was tested, it was me and my family!

All is now good and we will soon be back to normal and start to look forward again! 

Sincere

Blomman