Girard Perregaux

Let’s start with the obvious:

This is a large piece, 48 mm in diameter and 22.32 mm high. [Edit: correction of height measurment]

The case has the characteristic shape we know from other master pieces as the Neo Tourbillon and the Tri-Axial Tourbillon Minute Repeater.

Thin if any bezel, rounded sides, long curved lugs, similar but not exactly the same.

But there is one big difference here, there is no crown on the side of the case!

The case is completely symmetrical and so is the dial layout.

On top we have the sub dial showing time, easy for the eye to find and easy to read.

Next is where the main focus is, the two globes!

Dark blue they both stands out from the metal and grey background.

The globes do not only stand out in colours as they are actual globes rotating around one axis each.

To the left is the celestial globe displaying the sky chart with all the stars, enhanced are the once forming all the zodiacs in the sky.

This celestial map can be customized according to once wishes.

One interesting detail is that the celestial globe is rotating one full turn per 23 hours, 58 minutes and 4 seconds, the exact duration of a sidereal day, working as a constellation indicator.

If this effect only come out in the dark, I need to confirm as in photos the globes are more greyish blue than blue.

To the right, the terrestrial globe.

A miniature scale model of the earth in three dimensions.

Mountains are high, oceans are lower, exactly as here on earth.

With a 24h scale around the globe it works both as a second time zone and as a night and day indicator.

At the bottom you have the Tourbillon and Bridge.

In any “normal” cases, this would be the main attraction, but here we are not looking at a “normal” high-end piece!

Here the Tourbillon almost fade against the background.

I say almost because its there and you can see it if you are looking for it…

But each time you glance at this watch, the two blue globes will steal your eyes!

What surprise me is that the Tourbillon have good space but still my eyes are drawn away…

The Bridge shaped as a Neo Bridge is beautiful but I wonder if it would have benefit from a tad smaller size or just a little bit more space to let it breath?

One reason for these thought I think is the crystal shape.

The curved chimney shape creates a distortion around the edges and as you can see in the photos some glare which make it harder to see the Tourbillon and Bridge.

This may sound a bit negative, but that’s not my intention.

On the contrary, I love the fact that GP went for this type of crystal instead of “bubbles” on top of each globe!

As always with Girard-Perregaux creations you need to take an architectural approach to fully appreciate movement and layout.

The “room” created by this crystal really gives the globes justice and possible to “shine”.

As the whole dial is very three dimensional, this is needed for this kind of masterpiece. 

At the back, now it gets interesting –  

You still get to see the two globes and here you also find a second Neo Bridge.

Somehow, I find the view of the bridge is better displayed here on the back, clearer view.

In the photo you can see the distortion around the edge where the crystal is doomed. 

Still no crown in traditional sense, instead you have four levers that can be folded out and used for winding the movement and setting the time and globes.

I think the markings are quite self-explanatory.

This Bridges Cosmos is powered by the new Calibre GP09320-1098.

Manual movement Tourbillon, hours, minutes, second time zone with day/night indicator, constellations indicator and a power reserve of 60 hours.

On the wrist, it is a “horological monster”!

48mm is big, but here the volume of the watch “fools” the eye.

It’s very light for its size thanks to the Titanium case and crystal.

So even if volume is big, a lot of it is space and light weight metal.

But I think when it comes to this kind of watches, you would not care if it was a tad on the larger side…

I know I wouldn’t mind wearing this fantastic Cosmos!

Best

Blomman

[Photo credit: all photos taken by CrownComfort]

Girard-Perregaux Cosmos reference : 99292-21-651-BA6F