Girard Perregaux

Here is a watch that comes back to the forum from time to time, even if time has passed since it was introduced in 1999. It had a short life span and took its place in a vast collection of classical chronographs in the last ten years.

Girard-Perregaux 49460

The design of this watch comes from the early 60s. The first re-edition was launched as the "Chronographe Vintage 1996" ref 49300, obviously introduced in 1996. It was a 36mm chronograph, already fitted with the in-house calibre ref 3170. This very beautiful watch was issued only in yellow, pink or white gold. Certainly a rare bird!

A moderated 38mm case and a clean dial

As it was the case with the very large Girard-Perregaux range, there were several dial options and not all of them were shown in the public catalog. Imagine yourself discovering a watch you had never seen or heard before while looking at the window of a dealer! That could hardly happen today.

A much better watch under the sun light

After this 36mm first version the 38mm ref 49460 appeared in 1999. This time it was a steel watch with in-house calibre 3370. Again there were several dial options. It was also the base for several limited editions such as the "156 F.1" or the "Ecurie Francorchamps" named after the famous (and very competitive) racing team of the Belgian Ferrari importer Jacques Swaters. The 49460 is also a rare watch as apparently less than a thousand watches were made, all versions together.

Cream dial, pink applied indexes and hour and minute hands, and heat blued seconds and chronograph hands

Around the same time appeared four other watches with a close design in the Girard-Perregaux range. The closer one was the "Pour Ferrari F399 Chronographe" ref 49450. It was the same case, but in this case in yellow, pink or white gold. The dial was bearing the mention "1999 F1 World Champion" and the back was showing the profile of a Ferrari F399. It was meant to celebrate Ferrari's success in the 1999 F1 championship. It was equipped with calibre 2280 based on an ETA calibre.

This size is my size, definitely

The other options were launched in 40mm cases. Two were "Pour Ferrari" models: the well known "S.F. Foudroyante" ref 90200 and the quite interesting "F1 047 / 048 Advanced Technology" ref 49550. This latter was made in aluminium (047) or titanium (048), again with calibre 2280. It was an evocation of the 10 cylinder engine "048" that equipped the 1999 Ferrari F1.

The 36 and 38 mm models had a box sapphire glass, while the 40 mm models had a flat glass

The "Pour Ferrari S.F. Foudroyante" was undoubtedly the most appealing version on the technical side. It was a split seconds chronograph with lightning chrono seconds showing the 8^th of a second. It was celebrating the 70^th anniversary of the Scuderia Ferrari creation. It was equipped with calibre 8020, a calibre developed by the Jacquet (now La Joux-Perret) company for GP and The British Masters. I think that it was made in titanium, steel, yellow, pink or white gold, or platinum.

A very light watch to wear

The last version at this time was the "2000 Chronographe" ref 49560, a 40mm case equipped with calibre 3370 and produced in steel or yellow, pink or white gold. It was the first step towards the Flyback version that came later.

A very legible mat dial

I may even have missed specific versions of the classical "mushroom pushers" chronograph by Girard-Perregaux as they have had for quite a time a very large range and didn't show all watches on their catalogs.

My favourite picture of this watch, very vintage looking

The "Flyback Chronograph" ref 49580 arrived between 1991 and 1994. The "mushroom pushers watch" was no longer made for the car racer but for the aircraft pilot. It had a 40mm and a calibre GP 337A. It was also made in steel or yellow, pink or white gold.

Too much light for this watch

Strangely another watch appeared under the ref 49560, this time a "Pour Ferrari F1 World Champion", apparently similar to the "2000 Chronograph" except for its decoration of dial and case back, and made in steel or titanium and yellow, pink or white gold. There was also a ref 49540 with the same case and a calibre GP019CO, named "Pour Ferrari F1 052".

Simple and qualitative

Obviously it is not easy to have a clear vision of all versions, but again you should still think of a wide variety of dial designs on top of references!

Brushed side and polished bezel

That makes many possibilities to identify the version that speaks best to you, if not to find it.

A large crown

I must confess that the box glass of the 36 and 38 mm makes a big difference to me, giving a very substantial appearance to the watch. The 38mm case is also a very pleasant size for small wrists as the typical Girard-Perregaux extended and rounded lugs design reserves the 40mm version for the large wrists.

The rounded bow glass

In 2005 the Girard-Perregaux catalog doesn't show any "mushroom" chronograph anymore. Is that the end of a nice story?

Have a look inside

In 2006 the new "Chronographe Sport Monte-Carlo 1976" ref 49540 marks the return on the road of the "mushroom" chrono. This time (for the first time?) there is only one version, limited to a 1000 pieces in steel. To some extent you can now hope to ever see the watch pictured in the catalog!

Substantial I said!

In 2007 appears the next version "Flyback Chronograph Monte-Carlo 1970" limited to 250 pieces.

A bit closer!

There were quite probably some other limited editions in the last years, such as the "Club Italia" we saw when we visited Girard-Perregaux in 2007.

Beautiful leaf hands

Daniel JeanRichard has also issued several chronographs with mushroom pushers in the last years.

A cream dial, hard to picture

It seems quite predictable that this story is not over and that we will see new versions in the next years.

A vintage pleasure

The steady interest for the "old" 49460 version may perhaps bring back the box glass?

Another 49460 option with black dial

It may also be the time to launch a new hand wound classically architectured chronograph movement as this is the best way to ensure a huge success in the collector's market!

The black dial, close to the current versions

We could also perhaps see a tourbillon version?

The probable most produced 49460 with white dial

There are not many "mushroom pushers" chronographs in the market nowadays. Girard-Perregaux has had a nice offer in the last ten years and hopefully will have in the future.

The recent « Club Italia »

With this classical style of pushers, should they make only really classical watches?

The red back

We will see at next SIHH what happens!

The most classical ?

I hope you enjoyed this trip in the world of the classical and elegant chronographs by Girard-Perregaux.

Dje