Girard-Perregaux 1966 Stainless Steel Review

[timelessluxwatches]

Girard-Perregaux 1966 Steel

The Girard-Perregaux 1966 is arguably the high-end brand's staple, the quintessential collection that probably best identifies the watchmaker. As its name would suggest, it's a very classic design, although not particularly vintage. Instead, it's timeless, looking as good in 2016 as the day it was released. It's always had many strengths, like its restrained and modern appearance, its thin case and its excellent craftsmanship, but ordinarily they've only been available in precious metals, putting them out of reach of many collectors. This year, however, it is made available in steel, making this far more obtainable without sacrificing any quality.

The 1966 is probably the most versatile line of watches GP makes. They range anywhere from the most austere dress watches to sportier dual times and even to complicated watches that border on haute horology, like the Equation of Time. This 1966, however, falls squarely in the former category. Alongside some 1945s, this is arguably the dressiest watch you can get from GP.

This 1966 is rather unique in the large and complex lineup, however. At least at the time of this article, it is the only available 1966 model made in stainless steel. You might ask yourself why this is such a big deal, but it essentially opens up the '66 to an entirely new market. Formerly this model was only realistically available to those who were cross-shopping watches like the Vacheron Constantin Patrimony. Now it must be a very serious consideration for anyone who is looking at Jaeger LeCoultre Master Ultra Thin.

That example was not made carelessly. At just 8.9mm thick, it's among the thinnest sub-10k automatic watches you can buy, and it's really a breath of fresh air for a world filled with 14mm thick dress watches.

This is made possible by the in-house GP-03300-0030 (we'll just call it the GP-03300 for brevity), which is only 3.2mm thick. Despite its thinness, no compromises were made. It's beautifully decorated, it has an above average power reserve, and the accuracy, at least in this model, has been extremely good. Of course, this shouldn't be news to anyone, Girard-Perregaux has been making in-house movements for a very, very long time, at one point even winning the Neuchatel chronometer competition. The only thing that is new here is that it's offered at a price point that most luxury watch collectors can afford, and that's just fine with me. They didn't need to change a thing.

The dial, although it appears white, is actually a subtle silver, not unlike what you'd find from a Nomos Tangente or IWC Portuguese, for instance and has a very subtle, nearly imperceptible, dome to it. It's about as minimalist as GP can get. As such, it has few unnecessary flourishes. Yet, it's a great watch for illustrating the difference between a tool watch and a classic dress watch. Both tend to be a very back to basics approach to design, but tool watches aim to be instruments. Simplicity is not a design goal of tool watches, it's a side effect of their quest to increase legibility.

A dress watch like this, the Patrimony, the Calatrava, the Orion, to name a few, does not hold legibility as some sort of ultimately ideal. Like any watch design, it does aim to be legible, but this doesn't explain the minimalism. No, in an old-school dress watch, discretion is the sine qua non of design. Flamboyant dials or extremely large and complex cases call unnecessary attention to the watch and are therefore discarded. A watch like this is not something worn to get attention. It's a subtle, but purposeful, addition to everything else you're wearing. It fits extremely comfortably under the sleeve, the 40mm size is very versatile, neither unusually large or small, and while it exudes quality, you're going to have to really look at the details to appreciate it.

The feuille (from the French word for "leaf") hands do not distract from the minimalist look of the dial. They're about as simple as you can get, except for a little flourish on the counterbalance of the seconds hand. It may be the only flourish on the entire dial. The seconds hand is bent down at the tip to compensate for the curvature of the dial and increase the perceived precision (since the seconds hand will not deviate much from a variety of visual angles).

The date keeps with this theme. No frame here, just a subtle beveling around the edge. This view shows a bit of the curvature of the dial.

The indices are applied, giving a bit of depth to the dial. I like that there are no numerals, aside from the date anyway, anywhere on the watch. It maintains symmetry and reduces clutter. In this case, the indices are slightly asymmetrical thanks to a shortened 3:00 marker, but you'd really never notice.

Thankfully, in a time when watchmakers seem to want to tell you everything about the watch and the company on the dial, GP shows some discretion. All we've got here is GP and Girard-Perregaux, which is not exactly redundant. GP is the logo, Girard-Perregaux is the name. The logo could have been anything, like Omega's Greek letter for instance. Of course, the automatic writing at the bottom is unnecessary, but it was useful in balancing the dial.

The minimalist styling doesn't deviate with the 40mm case, but it does have one striking feature: its thinness.

The watch is just 8.9mm thick. For comparison purposes, the Jaeger LeCoultre Master Ultra Thin Moon, which is generally seen to be the standard bearer of modern ultra-thin watches, is 9.9mm. In fairness to the JLC, it has a moon phase, which no doubt adds marginally to the thickness.

The lugs are quite short, despite being only a 40mm diameter case, so it wears comfortably, although the all-dial look does make it come off a tad larger than the 40mm size would suggest. For my personal preferences it's about ideal. The crown doesn't screw down. The watch is only certified for 30 meters of water resistance, although I doubt that anyone wearing a 1966 is planning on exploring the ocean at the same time.

It's difficult to see, but the sapphire has a slight dome to it.

It's very nice to see another relatively affordable ultra-thin. 14mm thick dress watches don't bother me particularly much, most of my daily wear watches are in the 13-14mm range, but I definitely would prefer thinner. Choices, at least those with in-house movements, are few and far between below $10,000.

The GP03300-0030, seen here, is basically the core of Girard-Perregaux's entire portfolio. They've got a very wide variety of movements, including a dozen or so exotic ones like the Constant Escapement, but this is really their mainstay. This is where you really get to feel the GP's high-end roots. This is not a movement made to end up in sub-10K watches like this one, it was intended to be in gold watches twice this price, so you're getting a legitimately high-end movement, just in a steel case. The finishing clearly reveals that fact.

The movement is crazy flat for an automatic and just 3.2mm. That's the exact height of the Nomos DUW 3001 ultra-thin, but this even has a date complication. As one of the core movements in the lineup, it had to be relatively small in diameter because you can't fit a big movement in a small case, only the other way around. As such, there's a bit more case back here than I'd prefer to see, but not an unusually large amount.

Looking more closely at the escapement, the functional unit of a mechanical watch, we actually find a lot of similarities to watches like Vacheron Constantin as well as Nomos. Both of these companies, in addition to most GPs, have adopted the Triovis fine adjustment mechanism. In this system, the effective length of the hairspring is altered, not unlike the more conventional Etachron style, but the mechanism that performs that is a little different. There's not really a performance advantage, but the Triovis system is far more compact and almost gives the watch a free sprung look thanks to the clean balance cock.

Girard-Perregaux is a champion of unidirectional winding. I don't say that because they've fully adopted the technique, I say it because they're actually an explicit defender of the design, agreeing with JLC that it's even more efficient than bidirectional in the real world. It seems to wind the above-average 46 hour power reserve just fine, although it does it in a unidirectional way. Like other famous unidirectional movements, the Jaeger 899 and Valjoux 7750 to name a couple, it can freewheel in the non-winding direction, creating an audible whirring noise, and on some occasions, you can even feel it a little on your wrist. Some fans actually prefer this, a reminder of the watch's mechanical nature, but to me it's just a little bit less refined than bidirectional approaches. Regardless of a slight noise, it has powerful company, namely JLC and Patek Philippe. I find this to be typical of very thin movements, yet the Nomos DUW 3001 bucks that trend, keeping its bidirectional nature.

I don't normally test movements, but when I come across one I haven't spent much time with I will let it run for a day or two in a stable environment (dial up, wound in the morning, nearly static temperature) to get a ballpark. Although the GP is not rated as a chronometer, it did quite well, gaining about 3.5 seconds per day in conditions that tend to make watches run pretty fast. Of course, I only have one sample to test, so you can't extrapolate too much from this, but I was impressed for such a thin, non-chronometer rated movement. It's a very impressive movement at this price point, not only because it's beautiful and very thin, but because it has a better than average power reserve and excellent accuracy (at least in this particular sample). There aren't any compromises here.

Check out our video of the Girard-Perregaux 1966 in steel here.

The 1966 is a classic dress watch boiled down to its core elements. It's about as understated as you can get, up there with the Patrimony and Calatrava.

While it is extremely understated, it does have two key features. The first is its amazing thinness. It's one of the lithest watches in this price range.

That's thanks to its gorgeous GP-03300 movement, the second standout feature, really the area that best reveals the watch's high-end roots. This movement is not only 3.2mm thin, but it has a degree of finishing that is a level above what you'd expect at its price point. I like that, at least apparently, no compromises were made in making it that small. The power reserve is solid and the accuracy seems very good.

This isn't a watch for everyone, specifically for people trying to make a statement. No, this is a watch that must be worn for the wearer alone. He's going to appreciate how comfortably it fits under his sleeve and how light it is, as well as the extremely fine finishing on both sides of the watch.

So there it is, the 1966 in stainless, arguably the dressiest watch GP makes, unless you happen to favor some of the 1945s at any rate. For me it's the ideal size and thickness, but more interesting is the fact that I can discuss it being a very good value, not something you typically associate with high-end brands. I usually prefer steel to gold, price aside, anyway, so this is doubly preferable for me. I really hope we see more of their '66 lineup in steel because I'm a big fan of some of the complications they have, like the Equation of Time I reviewed. If you're looking at the Patrimony, or even the Orion or Cellini, you really also ought to take a good look at this '66 too.