Girard-Perregaux Cat’s Eye Lotus
The 2019 Girard-Perregaux Cat’s Eye Lotus watch (reference: 80488D11A701-HK7B) 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 steel 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 satin-effect silver-grey calfskin strap size 16 with a folding clasp buckle in steel.
The dial shows the functions of hours, minutes, day and night indicator topped with a glare-proofed sapphire crystal and is mother-of-pearl 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.
The Cat’s Eye collection is Girard-Perregaux’s dedicated ladies collection lineup featuring the best of feminine watch designs. Lasting for more than decade now, this collection has been winning feminine hearts with its delicate design aesthetics and the lavish intricate details its watches adorn.
It then comes as no surprise that Girard-Perregaux has decided to include the charm and delicateness of flowers in its lineup. Flowers are pretty objects, even men can’t deny that. And while men may not endorse the idea of wearing flowers, there is something innately pleasant about them.
Ladies watches traditionally are small in size, have a quartz movement and adorned with diamonds. At some point the Swiss watchmakers perhaps took the idea of ‘diamonds are a girl’s best friend’ to heart and started creating watches solely based on that. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but we at Watch Ya Gonna Do About It feel that since men’s watches are given such attention, ladies watches shouldn’t be just about diamonds.
Enter Girard-Perregaux with the latest Cat’s Eye Lotus.
It does have diamonds, conceded. But, it also has a beautiful flower inspired deign element not only to the dial face but also to the case-back. And to top it off, it’s got a mechanical movement. We bow our hats to Girard-Perregaux.
Perhaps the most stunning feature of the Cat’s Eye Lotus is the astronomical Day/Night complication. The lotus flowers at dawn into a beautiful pink lotus and by night it turns into a crescent moon. This infinite cycle has a unique rhythm to it, and set against diamonds and mother-of-pearl, it’s simply elegance to the max.
Girard-Perregaux says: “they convey the power of symbolism: the pristine purity of the lotus emerging from the waters of a dark pond.”
Courtesy ©Girard-Perregaux
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. The mother-of-pearl dial of the features a guilloché rim that is of varying thickness and sensual curves, again embodying the fluidity of nature. This guilloché rim draws the gaze to the very heart of the watch, where the mother-of-pearl is polished to heighten its shimmering effect. Since the mother-of-pearl has a wave pattern to it, the dial face gets a sense of depth and volume. If you turn the watch slightly, you can see that a beautiful 3D effect is formed creating the illusion of a horizon from which the lotus thus peeks out to the world. The hands of the watch are tipped and shared like a lotus flower petal giving the dial a subtle extra flair.
Just one more thing to add: the silver-grey satin-effect calf strap so perfectly blends with the guilloché rim that it’s almost like a silk scarf draping a diamond studded face.
What else can we say except we are very impressed (my wife is looking at me with eyes that say she is going to have this).
