Girard-Perregaux 1966 Small Seconds - Pre SIHH 2012

When you have been in the business of making watches for 220 years, naturally you are a brand with a lot to celebrate.  The Girard-Perregaux 1966 Small Seconds for SIHH 2012 celebrates a trio of accomplishments and has a dial which in comparison to last year's piece is positively cluttered.  Yet as always it remains pure and unfussy - a perfect example of a dress watch.

The 1966 Collection celebrates a time when the brand received recognition for its research and development of high frequency movements, a pursuit of precision which continues to this day, Girard-Perregaux are no stranger to accolades and awards and in 1889 they won the Gold Medal at the Universal Exhibition in Paris for the "La Esmeralda" pocket watch, the following year, 1900 they were invited to become a jury member instead of a competitor, rather like the system in place for the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève Aiguille d’Or prize winner.  Both dates are engraved on the solid caseback of the  2012 1966 Small Seconds watch, along with the year of its founding, a celebratory engraving worth sacrificing a sapphire caseback for.

On the hand-grained dial, an abundance of elegant features - the blued steel hands, railway track edging, caligraphical Arabic numerals, the little red "60" on the seconds subdial.  The small seconds subdial at 9 o'clock and the date aperture at 3 are perfectly arranged, the GP logo and founding date add symmetry to eachother.  Inside is the GP 03300 automatic movement with 46 hours of power reserve.

The Girard-Perregaux 1966 Small Seconds pre SIHH 2012 watch measures a very vintage 38mm across, is constructed from pink gold and will be a limited edition release of 100 pieces.

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