Girard-Perregaux 1966 Orion Trilogy is the crème de la crème of refined elegance
Girard Perregaux 1966 collection is the crème de la crème of refined elegance. The past heritage of the 1966 collection proudly boasts of introducing the first high-frequency movement — Gyromatic HF — and launching the first quartz watch produced at an industrial scale.
Publisher’s note: People are busy. Not everyone has the time for a detailed review read. Watch Ya Gonna Do About It? Well, we have put the watchmaking specs that run the heart of a watch on top so while you wait for the much need caffeine hit in a queue somewhere — though you should probably be home self-isolating — you get the juice in a nutshell.
First: Technical prowess
There are three case options to choose from: steel, steel with DLC treatment, and pink gold.
The 2020 Girard-Perregaux 1966 Orion watches — (reference: 49555-11-435-BB4A (steel), 49555-11-631-BB6D (Steel with DLC treatment) & 49555-52-431-BB4A (Pink gold) — have a self winding mechanical movement — GP03300-0132/0139 — comprised of 218 components & beating at the frequency of 4Hz (28’000 A/h) allowing for a decent (min.) 46 hour power reserve. The case-back is sapphire crystal on the steel & pink gold versions and smoky sapphire crystal on the steel DLC version.
The steel and pink gold variants come on a hand-patinated blue alligator strap with stitching while the steel DLC option features a hand-patinated anthracite alligator strap with stitching. The buckle is a bandar pin-buckle for all three variants.
The water resistance is nothing to boast about — 30m (3 ATM) — on this one but that’s okay since this is not really meant to accompany a diving session.
Now let’s sink our teeth deeper into more depth
The brand is starting this new decade by adding to its collection the 1966 Orion Trilogy watches.
The name says it all: not one but three variants in traditional ultra-thin cases — two different aventurine dial colours (one blue and one black) to choose from — that are inspired by a sky full of stars.
The brand is putting great emphasis behind this inspiration.
In-fact this new release reminds me of my university days as a design student.
We used to work with concepts and storyboards where one would find reasoning behind something before creating it. Or before we designed a particular object, we would have to derive it from something well known and inspirational.
Some can call it de-construction, some call it working off ideas based on context.
Anyway, Girard-Perregaux have used references from Greek mythology — Zeus & the bright stars in the constellation Orion — and Chinese astronomy where Orion is known as Shen (參), a great warrior doing battle in the sky with a belt of three stars.
The Concepts
Like what we have come to expect from the 1966 collection, the 1966 Orion trilogy is similarly slender with finely balanced lines paired with the reliability and precision of a self-winding movement.
Head on it’s difficult to tell, but if you look at the watch sideways, the thin aventurine dial — which by the way can be as brittle & delicate as glass — has been masterly curved into a domed shape.
This domed surface used on the dial increases the feeling of depth against the black or blue aventurine dials and gives it a somewhat romantic feel of the twinkling of night sky.
Watch Ya Gonna Do About It
An iconic design within their own portfolio, the 1966 range combines dressy features with technical excellence. The collection has come to be known for its mechanical watches with round and ultra-thin cases, smoky dials, leaf-type hands and tapered hour-markers.
Our favourite is the DLC steel one featuring the black aventurine dial on black watch case.
It looks stealth and elegant at the same time. It’s also different from the other two, given the dark look and the smoky sapphire crystal case-back being unique to this version.
It seems to not take itself too seriously but is nonetheless heck of a simple, elegant dress watch.
The dial shows the functions of hours, minutes, central second & date and is covered with sapphire double anti-reflective domed crystal. The dial’s architecture comprises of a domed outer edge with blue aventurine face on steel & gold versions and black aventurine face on the steel DLC version. The leaf-shaped hands — usual for 1966 collection — give it a nice added touch of elegance.
In the evening natural light the dial face can be the perfect companion for a moonlit dinner or a night of stargazing.
To find out more about this and other Girard-Perregaux watches, visit the Girard-Perregaux website here.