blomman Mr Blue
38586
GP: Vintage 1945 XXL Chronograph, ref 25840
Friends,
At my local Girard-Perregaux AD I had the chance to see the Vintage 1945 XXL Chronograph with silver dial.
This is the three sub-dials version.
Often when you see a three sub-dial chrono the dial feels crowded. Especially if fitted in a rectangular case.
To me this is an exception.
If we look into details of the dial, we see the straight applied number and the minute track inside of them. This has a great harmony, but often when the minute track is on the inside, it makes the dial look a bit crowded.
To avoid this, GP opted for silver numerals on silver dial which makes the numbers much less pronounced and only to come out in certain angles. This makes the crowded feeling to go away and not to become overwhelming. IMO, brilliant!
The dark minute track goes like a train rail around the dial and by following the six o’clock sub-dial, it soften the rectangular shape.
The dark track matches nicely with the heated blue central second and sub-dial hands. Makes the chronograph very easy to read and testifies to the effort for quality Girard-Perregaux has put into this watch!
I have a very soft spot for heated blue hands…!
Sharp classic silver Dauphin hands. It matches great with the applied numerals and due to the facets on the hands the light reflects in all angles and makes the time easy to read.
The three sub-dial and the date at four thirty works very well together. Much better than the date at 13:30 as on the Traveller.
The red markers on top of each sub-dial and the red date make this classic looking dial to spark. Don’t know why but often when a dial is monochrome it falls flat and you get the feeling that it is missing one dimension! Here, it is just perfect, not too little, not too much…
The big XXL case – yes, we all already agreed on that the case is big, the question is if it is too big, I tend to think not…
Anyway, the XXL case is just a tad larger (37 x 36 mm) than on the XXL Blue (36.20 x 35.25 mm). The difference is so small that you don’t see it with the naked eye.
The typical Vintage 1945 case is superb with rectangular, flat pushers.
I just love the arc of the case! The steel has a colder hue to it than the white gold, goes great together with the black alligator. But I wonder, maybe a tan alligator for the summer would fit equally good?
Inside is the automatic movement Calibre GP33 C0. Honestly, the movement is nothing I get super exited to see. Yes, the rotor is very nice finished and decorated, but imagine to see a really nice manual chronograph movement under the crystal….?
The central crown is not recessed like on the XXL Blue.
Sorry for the bad wrist shot (the lightning condition was horrible).
It might be hard to see from this shot, but on the wrist the right feeling is there!
Good presence, the dial pops, the red details stands out; you can really see the depth in the dial…
Another great experience from GP!
A big thank you to the AD that let me play with this beauty!
Hope you enjoyed as much as I did! Hm, am I on the way to become a chronograph guy…?!
Best
Blomman
This message has been edited by blomman on 2014-08-08 00:16:40
GP: Vintage 1945 XXL Chronograph, ref 25840
Mixed feelings, here.
About the date -
Thinking of it....
Not if but when! :)
That's a real nice Chrono.. Ticks many boxes for me .. The 3-subdials in this case..