Girard Perregaux

That?s a bit difficult to answer

 

as the price is a result of several factors.

First of all i?d like to quote the ThePuristS.com Discussion Board Code of Conduct:

"Connoisseurship, ownership and collecting is about much more than price and who sells what. Price and seller references tend to overwhelm the other more subtle, though equally important aspects of the aficionado experience."

Therefore i?d like to answer the raised question so far they touch the questions of quality and "price-building factors", but not the price itself.

And i?m confident others are much more able to explain, but i?d like to try to give some answers:

1) Why are vintage GP?s (usually) much cheaper than contemporary ones?

I?d like to emphasize one point before:
There?s no "absolute" price for a vintage or pre-owned watch. Regardless the condition, brand, rarity or quality: A watch is always worth what a buyer is willing to pay for it, be it $200 or $2.000 or $2.000.000. Nothing more, nothing less.
There are many many examples for different prices depending on the buyer, the seller, the location and many more circumstances, often resulting in more or less huge differences: I?ve seen very comparable watches by GP selling for lower than $200 as well as for more than $1000. That?s basically how the market works; these things do not have an "absolute" value beyond the costs of material (escpecially gold content).

And another very important aspect: Prices paid for vintage timepieces do change. Some watches which used to sell for $1.000 only few years ago tend to sell for $3.000 and more these days; on the other hand, some specific models or watches do not sell as high as they did very recently.

The reasons why people are willing to pay certain amounts in given moment of time for a given example are different:
The general perception of the brand ("Pateks are expensive watches, so i can pay more without loosing money"). The quality of the watch. Sometimes a "cult status" or common taste of a specific style (like oversized watches or pilot?s/military watches).

Today, GP is again among the top luxury brands. That?s a market position which is held by Vacheron/AP/Patek since many many decades ago and GP has come quite a long way. This may cause some more demand for vintage watches by GP than before which may result in higher prices.

Unlike the brands above, GP?s vintage timepieces almost never used to be luxury items (with some exclusions). Of course GP made a variety of very expensive watches up to $5000 in the 1950?s which equals about $31675.21 in 2001 (according to the Inflation Calculator).
The majority of GP?s watches was intended as accurate, well made and well constructed watches for the daily use. They have not been cheap: A GP Gyromatic like the one pictured used to be around $150-185 in the late 1950s and 1960s which was about the same price as a Rolex Submariner.
But they certainly have not been luxury items in the sense GP?s current products are. And they have not been as expensive as an average Patek in those years; if i recall correctly, the Calatrava line retailed for more than $1.000 in the 1950?s/1960?s. These pieces have been expensive then and they are today because of the brand perception and the quality of the watches.

You may notice this if having a look at contemporary and vintage movements by GP:


GP 31.09, 1960?s

GP 3300, contemporary

GP 32.4, early 1970?s

The first visual difference is the base movement: Those Gyromatics use a base movement which was (although quite exclusively) supplied by AS, while the contempory movement is completely made by GP (therefore often called "in-house"). I don?t want to enter another "in-house-discussion", but it is certainly much more expensive to do a complete movement than altering an outsourced one.
And it?s much more exclusive: This movement is not available elsewhere (the Vacheron and Bulgari versions are slightly different) and not in a watch for a lower price.

The next more or less visual difference is the finishing and decoration:
The GP 3300 is much finer done; you will notice the stripes, polished and angled bridges, perlage at the base plate. The vintage movements are mostly undecorated (although quite nicely finished in the parts responsible for accurate function).

If you look at the cases, you will notice the difference: The contemporary one does have a steel case with double sapphire crystals and the back attached by screws. The vintage watch is gold-plated one-piece case which will show signs of wear and is not that expensive to do as the contemporary one.

Another thing to keep in mind are condition of a vintage watch. It is an used item and does have signs of wear unless you have a NOS watch which often commands a significant premium.

And of course, one has to keep in mind the costs of ownership: Ever mechanical timepiece needs to be serviced from time to time. And especially a lot of vintage GP watches i?ve seen are in need of service which can far more than $200.
A brand new watch does come with a guarantee and is very likely to perform flawless for several years to come.

And one important thing: A mechanical watch is today a luxury item. No one needs it; a "cheap" quartz watch will tell you the time often more exactly than a high-grade mechanical one. But quite some enthusiasts enjoy the "toy factor" of a mechanical watch, the exclusiveness of having such a watch and the craftmanship and quality it inherits. So quite a lot of enthusiasts are willing to spend a certain amount for something which no one really needs. In the time of the vintage watches, there have not been accurate watches for $5 and the quartz watches did cost a small fortune back in 1969/1970. There have not been other than mechanical timepieces and therefore, it has not been a luxury item as it is today.

2) Why is an average vintage GP cheaper than a average vintage Patek?

The quality may be even more visible if comparing the vintage GP movement with a vintage PP one:


Patek Philippe 27-460, vintage

GP 32.4, vintage

The level of finishing and decoration of the Patek one is unsurpassed; it?s probably one of the best movements made with the highest amount of hand-worked craftmanship. This has been very expensive then and the watch sporting this movement has been much more expensive than the GP one. Many vintage Patek watches (even the "simple" automatic ones) had a price which equals the price of a car in their time, GP?s usually not.

Patek has a tradition of luxury watchmaking since more than 100 years ago. GP had a variety of luxury watches (and some of them are of the same quality as the Patek ones), but made mostly much more basic watches between the turn of the last century and the 1980?s.

Another factor is the number of watches in production: Patek Philippe never made mass-production watches, resulting in low production totals. Vintage Pateks are much rarer than many other brands. GP used to do much fewer watches in the past (at least than comparable brands like Omega and Longines), but still there are much more of them in existance than Patek watches.

Since then, GP focusses on luxury and haute horlogerie pieces, done in a very high quality and craftmanship. This is of course a cost-intensive process; GP today does some timepieces exceeding $300.000 retail price and it?s been a long time they made likely expensive watches before.
The actual production GP?s are significantly more elaborated and finer done as their predessors and even as GP?s watches of the 1980?s. There is quite a number of people who do realize this, willing to pay a certain amount for a very good watch even if it?s more than GP used to retail for some years ago.

Beyond this and as said above, there?s no "absolute" price. I?m confident you can find a vintage Calatrava for less than the prices initially stated and some GP will sell for more (and quite some do so).

And if you have a look at the vintage very haute horlogerie pieces by GP: You will notice they do not sell significantly lower than comparable watches by contemporary luxury brands, like the vintage 3-bridges tourbillon recently auctioned by Antiquorum (hammer price: $480.000).

And to come back to vintage timepieces by GP:
A vintage GP is always worth what you or any other enthusiast is willing to pay for. There may be someone to pay more for a comparable watch in the future or in another region/auction house/dealer?s showroom, but there?s simply no guideline to "what is a vintage GP worth".

Hope this helps a bit?
Of course, additions and corrections are appreciated.

Greetings from germany,

Peter

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