blomman Mr Blue
38586
The Richeville history - Intro
Dec 29, 2014,01:08 AM
Friends,
Earlier this year I promised you to talk about the Richeville family and the origin of the line...
As you know, my autumn/winter was quite stressful and the time for deeper research was not allowed.
But, a promise is a promise, so I would like to share with you the information I got so far.
The Richeville name and logo was registered by Girard-Perregaux in 1964.
The Richeville logo: Interesting is that on the initial logo Richeville was spelled with only one “e”.
[Sorry for the small pic]
But on the watches it was spelled Richeville, with two “e”.
The first series of Richeville was only produced during a couple of years before it was stopped. The reason GP stopped the line was that they got aware of the American expression “coming from Richville” which is not very positive…
Which reference that was the very first Richeville I am not sure and also not how many different there were. Hope to find out one day…
One of the first, if not the first was the reference 8444.
It was released in 1964 and produced during a couple of years.
Silver burst dial with applied steel makers, also applied Tower logo and the name. Automatic movement, no date.
Total production was 5000 in steel, 500 in gold plated and 100 in solid gold.
First batch had the Caliber GP 31-09, based on the caliber AS 1649 and later on the Caliber GP 31-19, based on the AS 1737, was used.
Another interesting detail is that on the dial it says “Automatic” instead of “Gyromatic” which was much more commonly see on automatic GP’s from this time. But even if it says "Automatic" on the dial, on the movement it says “Gyromatic”.
The reference 8444 also came with Chronometer certification.
Unfortunately there are no records of how many that was Chronometer certified. Different dial design with “pie-pan” dial and luminous on the hands.
Same movement inside, Caliber GP 31-19. You see the extra Chronometer number below the balance wheel in this shot.
There were a Richeville with date as well, reference 8445.
I have no production numbers, but the watch was produced at the same time as the reference 8444.
Same dial design as the no date Chronometer which leads me to suspect that the pie-pan dial was used for the Chronometers while the “flat” dial design was for the non-Chronometers. Another detail I have not been able to confirm…
Another guess is that the reference 8445 also existed as non-Chronometer… I still have to find one to be sure!
Inside is the Caliber GP 32-19, based on the Caliber AS 1738.
So, my Richeville story so far, Automatic, Automatic Chronometer and Automatic Date Chronometer.
As you can see, they all share the same case shape.
The evolution of this watch/case we all know very well… The Chronometer HF!
You see the resemblance clearly. The C-shape has come to a full C on the Chronometer HF.
Please see this post as a first step in uncovering the Richeville history. I will return when I found out more…
FYI, the modern Richeville line was introduced in 1993, another chapter in the Girard-Perregaux history we will for sure discuss here in the future!
Best wishes for the year end
Blomman
This message has been edited by blomman on 2014-12-29 01:08:59