PeterCDE
10167
It?s a bit recent
G'day,
as far as i recall, the "Big Date sets" were made on a retailer?s order.
Now i can?t say how many are still available, but i?ve not heard of many; it?s a difference to see a picture on a website and a piece in stock, a pre-owned/pre-fondled watch and a factory-fresh piece...
Personally i?m not a great fan of these; the two pieces in the set are somewhat redundant and the steel case isn?t as much sought after as the precious case models. I find the regular models to be more attractive, because they offer a variety of beautiful dials; particularly the creme and black dials make for a very elegant watch that goes very well with the tone of a gold case.
Between the Classic Elegance, the Vintage45 and the Richeville with Big Date/Moon phase there?s not much technical difference in terms of the movement; sure each is made to fit the different case shape (basically the main plate is changed), but the function is the same. Therefore the in-depth review of the Vintage45 Big Date applies for all, as far as technical details are concerned.
Personally i?d prefer the Vintage45 (25800) over the Richeville (27600)and the Classique Elegance (49530); that?s strictly subjective and determined by my rather small wrist, but the Richeville is a LARGE watch by all means. It?s beautiful and the vertical layout of the Big Date and Moon Phases goes very nicely with the tonneau style case, just that it?s way too large for my wrist. Otherwise it?s a very beautiful watch.
The 49530 is not small either and comes with a massive case. Just that for a round watch, i find the dial layout not to match as well as it does with tonneau/rectangular cases. And there?s no shortage of round cased watches of 40mm diameter, so it?s not the same unique look as the Richeville and the Vintage45.
So my pick would be the 25800 either with Breguet numerals, the creme or the black dial. The case shape is quite iconic for GP and due to the curvature it works well on many wrists. Although it?s not a small watch, i found it to suit my wrist better than the other models, apart from having a very soft spot for the Vintage45 line.
So i?d recommend to see all of these in nature and then decide.
Whatever model you choose, you hardly can do wrong.
Greetings,
Peter