Bauhaus a la Girard-Perregaux - ref 7427 aka Damier
Dear Friends
Girard-Perregaux ref 7427 aka Damier is well known around here.
For those interested to learn more here is great review from our GP Moderator Mr Blue
and one that goes beyond very watch and dwells into little bits and pieces that make all the difference
What I would like to present here is my view at GP ref 7427 Damier as the ultimate Bauhaus style watch
Before that let me mention some references
Staatliches Bauhaus commonly known simply as Bauhaus, was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933.
The school existed in three German cities: Weimar from 1919 to 1925, Dessau from 1925 to 1932 and Berlin from 1932 to 1933, under three different architect-directors: Walter Gropius from 1919 to 1928, Hannes Meyer from 1928 to 1930 and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe from 1930 until 1933.
Bauhaus school of design existed for only 14 years but despite this, the influence of the Bauhaus continues right down to the present day all over the world.
School was closed in 1933 by its own leadership under pressure from the Nazi regime.
Gropius as a founder wrote rules and regulations for the uprising organization and printed it on only four pages known today as the Bauhaus Manifesto . Simply put, the aim was to bring architecture, sculpture, and painting back to the craftsmanship. Gropius claimed that fine arts should be unified under the primacy of architecture.
“The ultimate goal of all art is the building!” , Walter Gropius claimed. He also thought that craft quality actually is the ultimate source of creative design.
The basic rule of the Bauhaus Manifesto is that functionality gets to dictate the form. It is all about products being functional and unique.
Now let’s go back to GP.
GP has „history“ with
architecture let us just remember recent great post by our second GP Mod CC
and great Le Corbusier 1945 Trilogy from 2012 in these three posts:
La Chaux-de-Fonds
Paris
Marseille
Now finally to my point
Let us look at few cult objects resulting from Bauhaus school of design
First one of my favorites
Typewriter Olivetti Studio 42 designed by the Bauhaus-alumnus Alexander Schawinsky in 1936
Then few cult chairs
Barcelona
MR Chair
and Wassily chair
we are getting warmer
how about Anni Albers carpet (born Annelise Else Frieda Fleischmann best known textile artist of the 20th century educated at Bauhaus)
warmer still
and finally, bingo the epitome of Bauhaus the Bauhaus building in Dessau
….I see direct inspiration here
The very watch ...GP Damier is very cool watch made in my opinion according to Bauhaus rules seen on this poster...functionality-rationality-design.
Watch has some cool design features discussed before like different lugs on left
and right hands side of the watch….
allowing easy strap change… since return from watchmaker
I opted for ostrich strap…somehow find it a propos
Profile is elegant
and sober
while case back begs for engraving
Let’s remember main conclusion of Bauhaus Manifesto …. It is all about products being functional and unique….and GP ref 7427 Damier is just that…functional and unique....
I find lot of Bauhaus and GP DNA in the ref 7427.
Next year we will celebrate 100 of Bauhaus…wonder if GP will honor that on next SIHH with modern interpretation of Damier…that would be über cool!
Cheers
D
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SIHH 2018 Novelty: Girard-Perregaux Neo Tourbillon with Three Bridges Skeleton – Live Shots and Review
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