Girard Perregaux

blomman Mr Blue
38586

• Show profile
• Show other posts

First Generation Girard-Perregaux Deep Diver, reference 7254

Friends,

Please let me present to you my first generation Girard-Perregaux Deep Diver, the reference 7254.

With help from a dear friend I finally have been able to add a first generation Deep Diver!

But before we go into the watch, let me explain the differences between the four generations.

First generation: No turning bezel, no enhanced luminous markers.

This watch, the 7254

Second generation: One piece metal turning bezel, some enhancement of the luminous markers.

Example: the 7897

Third generation: Turning metal bezel with inlay, enhanced luminous markers.

Example: the 8867

Fourth generation: Internal turning bezel, enhanced luminous markers.

Example: the 9108

OK, so back to the watch in question: the reference 7254 had only one year of production, 1957.

What is a bit puzzling is that at this point Girard-Perregaux already had the Sea Hawk line.

Why introduce a second water watch line?

The answer may be because; one, the Sea Hawk line had manual movements and GP wanted to separate between this new line of automatic movements. 

Two, the Sea Hawk was not really waterproof down to any great depths.

The watch looks quite similar to other GP Gyromatic’s from that time, just a bit stronger.

Applied numerals and indexes are of steel and the only luminous material on the dial is the small dots at each index and a slightly larger triangle at the numbers.

Steel Dauphin hands with a thin line of luminous material along the hand.

It can’t have been easy to read the watch in deep water!

Gyromatic reference 6766, print ad from 1957:

What surprise me a bit is that Girard-Perregaux opted for a sub-second on the Deep Diver instead of a central second as on most Gyromatic’s from the late 1950s.

But I don’t mind since here we have a couple of cool details!

For the first time the name Deep Diver is used. Notice the way it is written: “DEEP-DIVER” with a dash.

Another cool detail is the depth rating in red, 100 Fathoms (approx. 182 meters) almost the same as the JLC Deep Sea Alarm which came two years later with a waterproof of 200 meters.

My guess is that they wanted to show people that they were serious, so they made a watch capable of the doubled of the Blacpain at this point…!

The case is stronger and bigger than the regular Gyromatic from the late 50s.

Slightly bigger, but not much. Mostly shown on the somewhat wider bezel and thicker lugs.

36 millimeter in diameter and 11 millimeters thick including the reinforced plexi.

To achieve the waterproof of 100 Fathoms there is a screw-down case back.

The crown is not a screw-down crown but a bit larger than the normal Gyromatic crown.

Inside is the automatic GP Caliber 19, 18.000 vph which is based on the Peseux 310.

In total Girard-Perregaux made 500 pieces of the 7254, all in steel.

Both black and white dial existed and at least two different dial styles.

Retail price in 1957 was CHF 195.

And on the wrist? A SUPER COOL WATCH!

I fear this one will “hog” a lot of wrist time this year!

Hope you enjoyed this vintage report!

Best

Blomman