Girard Perregaux

The last time the forum saw a 9050 was almost a decade ago. So I'm declaring it an elusive piece and sharing my own 9050. It rekindled my love for watches after a multi-year-long hiatus. This is the type of watch for the long time collector who's looking to explore the depths of high watchmaking with a wearable and timeless design. 

Thank you! Curious about production numbers of GP and decoding serial numbers. I've requested an extract from the archives. Lets see what that turns up!

and thank you for sharing this delightful model and example from GP!

thank you for the warm welcome!

Cool GP not often seen! Which looks to be a Neo Vintage example to me. Singapore Marc is our resident GP expert, surely he’ll reply to this thread if he sees it. Enjoy! 

1990-2010

Ok, and current production as well.

Vintage, I’m not so familiar.

😅

And a lovely watch for sure! Not one that has been written about recently 😊

Let’s see what GP replies to Don first.

🤝

as we know, VC overseas used this movement as an ebauche (GP calibre 3000==VC 1310/1311) in their first generation overseas. Given what's told in the archive extract; "It was the first model to ever to be equipped with the new in-house caliber GP 3000" -- I think there is a non zero chance of this particular reference being sent up and down Geneva and the other Canton's visiting high horology houses like VC so engineers and designers can get a feel for the movement and how it can be cased.



extract




interaction

So a few things:

1. Mathilde is a manager and runs the GP heritage Dept. As you probably know already.

2. Interesting to note that the ref 9050 was with first GP ref to receive the new calibre 3000 (no date). The laureato 8010 was the first GP reference to receive the calibre 3100 (with date) in 1995. Prior to this, the “laureato” all housed quartz calibres. I wrote “laureato” because prior to the ref 8010, it was GP never put in the laureato on the case. So in some ways, the “birth” of what we today know as the laureato, started on 1995 with the ref 8010.

3. I believe that GP provided the calibre 3100 (not the cal 3000) to VC for their overseas Gen 1 which was released in 1996.

Could you remind me what is the case thickness and other dimensions of your 9050?

Thanks.

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Ah yes, thanks for the correction on the GP calibre used by VC. 3100 would be a 3000 with the date complication right? The dimensions of my 9050 are approximately 35mm in diameter and 7.5mm in height 

Yes, cal 3100 is with the date function.

Cal 3000 is without the date function.

Thanks for the dimensions. The 7.5 mm height is close to the height of the laureato 8010 at 7.9 mm.

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This is what we wanna see more of.

I’ll read more later but just wanted to say lovely 9050 first.

🫶🏼

G'day,
as far as i recall the Classique Elegance line debuted in 1994, about the time Gino Macaluso became head of Girard-Perregaux in 1992. Previously the brand did have an elegant line of watches of the same name, but with ETA/Peseux movements and not a GP3xxx inhouse calibre. An example of those older pieces is a reference 47990, probably best know for those pieces that were given for "30 anni per lavoro at FIAT" (30 years ofbwork at Fiat).
The Classique Elegance has been the first line of models to be equipped with GP's newly introduced manufacture made movements then. As these were available in two different sizes and with/without a calendar, the Classigue Elegance models were equipped with different indications. As far as I can see, all of them are 34mm in diameter and between 7 to 8 mm height. There's the 9040 models, which still had a manual wind movement based on an ETA7001 and automatic models with an inhouse movement. The 9050 is a model with small second at 9, which is a special feature of the GP3xxx movements, as these can be equipped with a small second at 9 or at 6 without having to change the gear train and thus allow for quite some variations inside a given model line. Then there has been references 9052 (central second) and 9053 (central second with date). For each model a number of dial variants was available. As far as I know, GP then made some hundred(s) of each model, so each specific reference with a specific dial/hands combination was made in rather low quantities. A wild guess if mine would be about 50 to 250 watches in precious metal of each reference, for some it may be less.
As to why the 9040 came with a second at 9 is a little story on it's own: Before Gino Macaluso became head of GP he was the importer for the brand in Italy and not only am architect by education, but a true enthusiast of Design and Artwork ever since. The Italian market strongly requested an elegant watch at that time, which had to have a restricted diameter and height. Now, as they say, many roads lead to Roma, but when you are about to do a watch of 33-35mm in size with three hands, it is quite a challenge to come up with something different than what was available from other brands at that time and in the past. Therefore the idea came up to place a small second at 9, because that was a rather unusual location and the movement allowed to do so without adding a module to dive the second hand and thus increasing the height of the watch case. Subsequently the position of the small second was choose again when the Vintage45 line became a serial production later.
On a side note onnyour specific watch, it may be interesting to know at that time GP used to number movements. If I see correctly it is 3000-470, which should make this the 470th movement of this calibre. I think it's quite justified to say it's one of the earliest GP pieces with an automatic inhouse movement.
On a side note in terms of Classic Elegance models with a classic look and reduced case diameter and height, there may be one other model which could be interesting. In early 2000's, Girard-Perregaux made a small number of very thin manual wind watches reference 4762. This is a 34mm watch, but with two hands only and measuring merely 5 mm in height. One may say it's a bit "Calatrava-esque", very classy and extremely comfortable with a very nicely made case. These were equipped with different dials and precious metal case colours. So when you're into this timeless look, which I think is a classy choice, it may be worth trying a little research on this forum (i think i had some notes on these in 2004 or such) or Google.
Finally, excuses as english still is not my language and not adding some more input, but all this pretty much from what I remember. It's a very nice watch and it's great to see it found a caring home, particularly as it feels obviously fine with such a nice Porsche
Greetings from Germany,
Cheers,
PeterCDE

PS: The most rare of these Classique Elegance models probably are the sceletons. These were manually sceletonized and hand-engraved with gold-plated movements and made in very limited quantities, i'd guess not more than 25 units over all.
Cheers, Peter

Hey Peter! Thanks for the info on the background and similar references. I looked up the references you mentioned and saw some pieces I really liked! This watch has set me off on a hunt to learn more about the curious placement of the seconds sub dial, I see a design lineage inspired from Vacheron Constantin & Breguet. Pictures from the "Treasures of Vacheron Constantin" and "Breguet : art and innovation in watchmaking" books