Girard Perregaux

AndrewD
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Girard-Perregaux 1966 Minute Repeater

The 1966 range has been enormously successful for Girard-Perregaux. Combining classicism with modern panache has been a real winner with a series of watches from simple time only to complications such as chronograph, EOT and annual calendar, and a wrist presence that harks back to the peak of mechanical timepieces. But one of the jewels in the crown is the 1966 Minute Repeater (Reference: 99650-52-711-BK6A) launched at the 2012 SIHH.

Repeaters, more than most mechanical complications, transport us back to a period before electricity when you could reach across to the watch on the nightstand to hear the time chimed out in the dark hours of the night.

This 1966 Minute Repeater comes in a 42mm x 12.9mm 18K pink (rose) gold case. The watch itself is relatively light because GP have selected the case size, internal volume and case thickness for optimal sound transmission. The rear sapphire case back is gently curved to increase the internal case volume and the “lower part of the case back has been diamond-polished to allow a reduction in acoustic interference.” The case back is secured with 4 screws and the watch is water resistant to 30 metres (3 ATM). All of the engravings are hand done, which is another nice artisanal touch.

Like all the 1966 range the watch is mounted on a simple black alligator strap – 21mm tapering to a classic 16mm to a simple pink gold pin buckle that befits a dress watch.

And the view through this antireflective exhibition back is truly stunning. Like me, it is probably the GPE09-0001 movement that first caught your attention and it looks wonderful. It is a 32mm (13 ligne) x 5.36mm manual wind movement with an impressive 100 hours (4 days) power reserve. The movement has 27 jewels and the variable inertia balance wheel beats at 21,600vph (3Hz). Those of you who have handled any of the three gold bridges tourbillons will be aware of the high level of finishing that GP are able to achieve and they have lavished this repeater movement with their best efforts. All the angles are hand polished and this is seen to the greatest degree in the ‘half-arrow’ balance cock, modelled on the arrow-shaped bridges from the tourbillon, which has been rounded and polished in the traditional way with polishing stones, diamond paste, pegwoods, buffs and a lot of ‘elbow grease’. The mainplate is rhodium-plated and decorated with circular graining while the complex bridges are adorned with Geneva stripes and also lavished with the same hand finishing, including polishing of the re-entrant angles which requires great skill and perseverance.

The two circular gongs follow the perimeter of the movement and strike out the hours (low-pitched hour gong), quarters (hour and minute hammers simultaneously strike both gongs) and then minutes (high-pitched minute gong) on demand using an inertia wheel (centrifugal governor) for speed regulation. Repeater activation is via a slider on the left side of the case that is easily gripped and pushed upwards. The movement architecture is lovely. There is a great depth, although I wish the gongs were a little more visible around the perimeter, but that is a minor point. Interestingly despite all the effort to increase sound transmission, the escapement ticking is not particularly audible when the watch is held up to the ear. This probably has more to do with the escapement design than the sound transmission characteristics of the watch, but I found it interesting.

Broad Geneva stripes cross all the movement bridges.

But what you really want to know is how the 1966 Repeater sounds. And this is the most difficult and subjective aspect to a repeater. I have now been fortunate to listen to a handful of ‘ding dong’ watches, a couple of them being outstanding and more than a couple being disappointing, so I know it is hard to get things just right, even at this rarefied level of horology. As with any good audio review it may be helpful to tell you my listening biases and preferences (but I won’t go as far as publishing my audiogram!): I like a pure bell-like ring with complex harmonics and slow decay and clear separation of notes. I don’t like repeaters that are too fast or too slow or have a lot of background regulator noise. While I used to be more interested in volume, that hardly plays a part any more. Volume (in dB) is akin to top speeds in hypercars; interesting to discuss in the pub, but not as important as the other aspects of the experience of the product. Minute repeaters are such a personal product to wear that I don’t really care if the rest of the room can hear.

So I can tell you that the 1966 Repeater has nearly perfect tempo and the speed is maintained right to the end of 12:59 (the longest sequence of strikes). There is a slight pause in striking the minutes gong but this is acceptable. There is very little regulator noise, the volume is reasonable, there is a pronounced differentiation in the frequency of the three notes and the notes are beautifully clear, separated and resonant.

This watch is all about subtlety. The dial is a case study in restrained elegance. Leaf-shaped steel hands, which have been heat blued and hand polished with diamond paste, jump out against the white Grand Fue enamel dial. Applied pink gold Arabic numerals complete the classic dial presentation.

I hope you can get to handle and listen to one of these amazing pieces one day.

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