Girard-Perregaux Cat’s Eye Lotus Arabian Jasmin
The 2019 Girard-Perregaux Cat’s Eye Lotus Arabian Jasmin watch (reference: 80488D52A401-CK4A) has a self winding mechanical movement — GP03300-1062/1051 — beating at the frequency of 4Hz (28’000 A/h) allowing for a decent (min.) 46 hour power reserve.
The case is made out of pink gold and is set with 62 brilliant-cut diamonds (totalling approx. 0.85 ct).
The dimensions of the watch are a comfortable 35.40 x 30.40 mm (oval shaped watch).
The case-back is sapphire crystal secured by 4 screws.
It comes on a midnight blue alligator leather strap size 16 with a folding clasp buckle in pink gold.
The dial shows the functions of hours, minutes, day and night indicator topped with a glare-proofed sapphire crystal and is aventurine set with 365 brilliant-cut diamonds (totalling ~0.90 ct).
The water resistance is — 30m (3 ATM) — on this one.
Now that we have gotten the technical prowess out of the way for those in a rush, let’s sink our teeth deeper into more depth.
We have already discussed and reviewed most of this watch in its other iteration, the Cat’s Eye Lotus here. So we are going too make this brief as not to repeat ourselves.
That said, the Cat’s Eye Arabian Jasmin deserves an applause for its design that stands out on its own; it’s no less stunning than the Lotus design, and for someone with the funds, it is perhaps a worthy choice to buy both. Damn do they compliment each other.
Like we have said about the Lotus design, perhaps the most stunning feature of the Cat’s Eye Arabian Jasmin is the astronomical Day/Night complication. The oval shaped dial works well with this design element of flowers in bloom, the non-circular shape adds to the fluidity that nature so beautifully commands. The architecture of the watch face is very well balanced too whether be it the diamonds on bezel, the curved lugs or the domed crystal. But we have said this before as well. So what’s new you ask?
Well, there’s heaps. In the complete reversal of the Lotus design, the Arabian Jasmin flowers at nightfall while there is sunshine during the day. These two watches do really go together – Lotus has a moon for night, and Arabian Jasmin has a sun for day. In the words of Girard-Perregaux, “together they form an infinite cycle, a space for contemplation and beauty that sets its own unique rhythm”. We couldn’t agree more.
The Arabian Jasmin watch design shows the flowers in a cluster form that seems to depict the charm evoked by the fragrance of jasmine that comes to mind.
“It is in the soft warmth of the night that star-shaped jasmine flowers bloom, releasing their sweet scent – in which Cleopatra is said to have soaked the sails of her boat when she travelled to Caesar.”
Courtesy ©Girard-Perregaux
The jasmine flower is made from mother-of-pearl and is engraved and hand-painted. The main dial face depicts an aventurine sky, and the watch architecture overall seems to depict a delicate jasmine flowering underneath a star studded night.
There is a fair amount of surface interplay and depth going on with the dial face. The inner bezel ring surrounding the aventurine disc is slightly raised at 3 and 6 o’clock. The inner bezel is also set with diamonds of different sizes to better highlight the elliptical shape of the case.
Somehow not having a seconds hand really works for this dial face. There is a certain simplicity in just having the hours & minutes and day and night complication. In the same spirit of simplicity, the Day/Night complication of the Cat’s Eye Arabian Jasmin does not require any independent adjustment as this complication is synchronised with the hours and minutes hands.
The magic doesn’t stop at the dial face though; the display case-back of the pink-gold is equally mesmerising. The oscillating weight is made out of pink gold and is distinguished by a delicate skeleton-working process that incorporates the floral codes of the watch face.
Devil is the details: the intertwining petals of the oscillating weight feature alternating polished and microblasted zones. The moment has an array of hand-crafted finishings: Côtes de Genève, circular graining, bevelling, blued steel and engraving.
Oh yes, did we mention that even the crown design has been thought of: it’s in the shape of a flower in bloom.
To find out more about this and other Girard-Perregaux watches, visit the Girard-Perregaux website here.
