Girard Perregaux

This one is a change up for me.  I generally have been drawn to “cutting edge” watches.  My focus has been on technical ingenuity rather than beauty or classicism.  Basically, I was a sports car guy.  Richard Mille: Bugatti, URWERK: Lamborghini, FP Journe: Aston Martin, etc.

I view this as more of a Rolls Royce Phantom: beauty, class, and LUXURY.  Without a doubt this is the most luxurious feeling watch that I have owned.  Everything about it is indulgent.  There is A LOT of gold, beautiful engraving, etc.

This marks an interesting shift in my preferences.  I started really getting into watches about 5 years ago.  Since then I have had a lot of incredible pieces, and my tastes are still changing dramatically.  A year ago I was not into gold at all.  I would have felt incredibly self conscious wearing this watch.  Lately I have found myself staring at yellow gold watches.  I’m not sure what brought about the switch, but it’s one of my favorite things about this hobby.

Words and pictures cannot describe how beautiful this watch is.  The finish is as good as any I have ever seen.  The watch is yellow gold but the bridges and hands are rose gold so they really pop out and shine.  The alternating of brushed and polished surfaces is just awesome and the case itself is much more complex and interesting than it appears on first look.  The automatic microrotor underneath the winding barrel is ingenious.

Anyway, here are some pics.

and here it is in the wild:

Hi Steve,

sincere congrats on a wonderful addition!
A big piece, in any aspect! And in weight, i´d guess

The funny thing is, the "cutting edge" approach of the Three Gold Bridges to be widely underestimated.
Sure it´s the oldest movement still in production and quite some steps during creation are executed just like 130 years ago.
But it´s not been designed to look fancy only, but first and foremost to be an ultimately accurate timekeeper. These won GP a lot of prizes and not without reasons almost all of the vintage pocket pieces are certified Observatory Chronometers.
The added automatic winding is quite a tricky thing, particularly when keeping in mind the auto winding is close to invisible and does not change the layout or dimensions of the movement.
So there´s really something to these

But most important, probably, it makes you smile
For sure it looks great on your wrist! The bracelet is a rare sight and a very nice and very luxurious extra indeed.

The RR Phantom is quite a matching comparison!

And if there are more pics, please feel welcome to let them flow
Thank you for sharing and enjoy your beauty!!!

Cheers,

Peter

I'll try to take some better pictures in the coming weeks.  I'm having some camera difficulty right now (my flash won't work hence the dark wrist shot by the window).

Looking forward to spending some more time in the GP forum!

-Steve

Hi Steve,

pics would be awesome!

If you dig the recent discussions, of which a good share is about the various aspects of GP´s Tourbillon pieces in terms of history, technicality, design and execution, i´m sure you will find some interesting input.
Such as this:



What you don´t see of the automatic winding...
It´s really not less high-tech than other tourbillons with a seemingly "high-tech look"....

Cheers,

Peter  This message has been edited by PeterCDE on 2007-01-29 13:43:47

Just do it!This is a 180° turn, at least :-)

But what a watch!

I said it before, and now again, YG is the gold that's always is classic.And more and more WIS dare to show gold watches,not just WG or PT.

I'm a big fan of YG.

And of GP, of course :-)

Just beautiful!

Cheers

Doc

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I think it's going to get me in to trouble.  Within 2 hours of strapping it on my wrist I was in a wine shop buying 12 good Bordeauxs.  Then off to the cheese shop to sample and get three hunks of good cheese.

This could be very dangerous....  ;-)

Buying those 12 Bordeaux wines might be pretty hazardous to your wealth.  As they too are damned addictive.

Bon Appetite.

 

Bill

 

PS. Ariel on its way yet. - Now that could be hazardous to you health. 0-60 in 2 seconds.

it just makes me feel like being decadent!

Ariel should be here end of march/beginning of April.

See you Friday night?

0-60 in 2 secs?
The one that weighs just below 500kg with 300 BPH?
Sounds way cool! I bet that´s fun

Well, the GP certainly doesn´t do anything else than a "Cheap Black Plastic".
Of course that´s a decadent thing to do
But with extraordinary style

Most owners of a Three Gold Bridges (and particularly those lucky few to own a 99940/99945, an Opera or a "Magistral") might be regarded very wealthy folks who appreciate fine and unusual things. It might be considered decadent to wear a 1.000m depth rated diver´s watch with a tourbillon when taking a round through the pool, but reportedly it´s pretty much fun as well.
GP´s are not to show off; a full gold "Day-Date" probably will do better in this regard.
GP´s speak to those who appreciate fine things, who do have the experience to appreciate them and the means to afford them. In some way one might say it´s a bit decadent, but it´s for sure a great way to have fun!

Cheers,

Peter

wow, thats an awesome watch and an awesome wrist shot

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It must weigh as much as 10 RM watches!

You for sure have good taste. 

And I didn't even know Ariels are available in the US.

This is one of the few times I've seen it on a bracelet. Wear it in good health.

- SJX

Is is always nice to see how proud watch lovers are when they get a new watch.

And the great part is that is is applies the same voor a 'basic model' as a wonderfull technological marvel als yours.

Its like getting your first bicycle al over again. We watch people are strange beings indeed.

Wear it in good health.

Kind Regards,

Hans-Jurgen

The Netherlands