Girard-Perregaux’s place at the vanguard of horological innovation is confirmed by over one hundred recorded patents, and the innumerable prizes and distinctions we have received. We remain one of the rare watchmakers to retain Manufacture status for over two centuries by mastering all the required horological skills in-house. The most common vintage Tudor watch is the Tudor Oyster watch, and after having received countless requests and questions about the Tudor oyster watch serial numbers, we can confirm that yes, the serial numbers below also apply to the Tudor Oyster, Tudor serial Number Year. 40,000 – 140,000 1940 – 1956; 2; 170,000 1957; 200,000 1958; 280,000 1959. Girard Perregaux watch? Hi, i have this MENS Vintage GP watch but i am unable to find a similiar model online, it is 17 jewels and the number on the case is 69251685, any help on identifying it would be much appreciated and possibly from what year it is from?
Girard-Perregaux 1965
This watch offers the opportunity to acquire a virtually new old stock item by a celebrated maker that has probably been worn on no more than half a dozen occasions. Girard-Perregaux was always among the elite Swiss houses and its output was exceedingly expensive when new. Founded in 1791, Girard-Perregaux has maintained consistently high standards of quality ever since and, much to the credit of successive managements, there has never been a weak era of Girard-Perregaux production. Queen Victoria favoured the firm’s work and in Ian Fleming’s 1957 James Bond novel From Russia With Love, it is said on the very first page that a Girard-Perregaux watch is one the staple membership badges of “the rich man’s club”.
- The Vintage 1945 is powered by the Girard-Perregaux 9600-0019, mechanical self-winding movement, an all in-house movement. Girard-Perregaux 1966. In 2012, Girard-Perregaux introduced a new Girard-Perregaux 1966 Full Calendar and a 1966 Chronograph, which has been highlighted as a new grand classic by Girard-Perregaux themselves.
- Model & Reference Numbers for Girard Perregaux: 02573D0A51-11M; 02573D0A51-21M; 02573D0A52-61M; 02589D0A11.720A; 02650D0Q51-72M7; 02650D0Q53-72M7; 02650D0Q53-72M7dmnds; 02656D1Q11.143; 02658-D0U-11-143; 027650-D0-Q52-1151; 08038D1A11.72B; 08039D6A53-714; 08046B.0.53.11M7; 08047D0A51.7207; 08048D0A52.72L7; 08049D0A52-72L7; 24980; 24980-1-11.
We have not offered a better-preserved vintage Girard-Perregaux for sale from the classic post-war period than the 1965 gentleman’s watch here. If we look very closely at its large case through a jeweller’s eyeglass, there are the tiniest few imperfections here and there, but these must be expected on any vintage watch that has not remained wrapped in tissue paper in a safe all its life. Even when viewed from a distance of two or three centimetres, this case is faultless and in an immaculate state, giving rise to our earlier suggestion that this item has only ever been worn on the fewest of dress occasions.
While the case body is thickly gold plated, the case back is in stainless steel. This combination was a common one used by almost all of the major manufacturers. The case back exterior is stamped with the wording “Fond Acier Inoxydable” ( the French term for stainless steel), together with the serial number “575307”. Interestingly, while it can be said with absolute certainty that case and movement here are original to each other, the case is unsigned. Girard-Perregaux has a superb set of archived records at its La Chaux de Fonds headquarters and if supplied with case and model numbers will produce, for a small fee, an extract that confirms that this combination is quite correct.
The dial is completely original and as near to being perfect as could ever be found. Its silvered surface is free from discolouration and has clearly been kept well away from bright sunlight, damp and dust. It must be stressed emphatically that this is not a restored, refinished dial, but one that is totally untouched and virgin. Restored dials will often return a watch to superficially mint condition, but are regarded as highly undesirable by collectors because they have no rarity factor and take away enormously from a piece’s originality. A dial can be restored at will, but only years of careful treatment will result in an original dial being in anything remotely approaching the condition of the one here. The dial on this piece realistically almost doubles the value of the watch as it would have been with either a restored dial or an original in a deteriorated state.
“Girard-Perregaux” is stated in black above the dial centre point. The hour batons are in gilt and match the applied “GP” emblem perfectly. Batons, logo and hands are all in superb condition and free from deterioration.
Girard-Perregaux watches contain some of the finest mechanical movements that have ever been produced, and this one is a delight for the aficionado. This unit is the company’s calibre 30, a manually wound unit with seventeen jewels and Incabloc shock protection. It runs at a fast 21600 half beats per hour, and this rapid beat rate is certainly a factor in it being extremely accurate. Interestingly, calibre 30 was built around an ebauche ( this is the term used to describe a movement in its most basic form, without gears, pinions or any form of finishing) manufactured by A. Schild of Grenchen. Founded in 1896, Schild was one of the greatest movement producers of the vintage period and at one time or another, almost all the major Swiss houses used its ebauches as the building blocks for their own mechanisms. IWC, Ulysse Nardin and Rolex all purchased ebauches from Schild, and there are very few manufacturers that had such a reputation for excellence as this concern. It is worth noting that the ebauche on which this movement was based, Schild calibre 1687, was also supplied to Eberhard and appeared in its watches of the mid-1960s.
While Girard-Perregaux purchased this movement in a raw state from Schild, it then proceeded to entirely re-process it in-house to its own exacting standard. Nothing about the finishing of this item has been dictated by production cost and the quality here is second to none. All the screw heads have been polished individually by hand to a mirror finish, while the edges of the bridges have been bevelled, again by hand, rather than left as plain right angles. These small aspects, which may seem inconsequential to the uninformed, in fact all aggregate to make the difference between a movement that is simply of a good general standard and one that is genuinely exceptional.
The bridge is signed “Girard-Perregaux, Seventeen Jewels, Swiss” together with the serial number 336564, which dates the piece to late 1965. Having been serviced regularly, this movement works perfectly and is in a state that can only be described as virtually mint. In fact, we can go further and suggest that if we didn’t know that this was a vintage movement, we would have automatically assumed from its condition that it was a brand new item. Perhaps not surprisingly then, everything here is totally original. There are no changed parts and, unlike many movements of this age which are currently in circulation, this mechanism remains totally standard throughout.
We have fitted with piece with an ostrich skin type strap that is perfectly suited to it. Whilst not a genuine Girard-Perregaux strap, it is virtually identical in both appearance and construction to that which would have been supplied with this model new in 1965. Having never been worn, this strap is in mint condition.
The price of this watch is £425 GB pounds, which, for a near mint, totally original piece by one of the most respected makers in the world, isn’t at all unreasonable. If we pause for a moment to actually evaluate this item and think of just how much quality is being bought for a tiny amount of money, the value for money that it offers will become very apparent. If we walked into a high street jeweller’s shop anywhere in the UK with a straight five hundred pounds to spend on a brand new wristwatch, we would be offered a selection of mostly battery powered models by brands with little or no credibility whatsoever in the world of serious horology. This sum wouldn’t buy even the most basic watch by any of the top tier Swiss houses. But by opting instead for a nearly mint vintage watch, we could own an example by a highly respected house, with a movement of such high quality that we would have to pay several thousand pounds to find its equivalent in a current model. Better still, having already obtained collectible status, provided it is treated with care and kept in its present superb condition, it will only ever appreciate in value, whereas its modern counterpart will plummet in worth from the moment it first leaves its place of sale. This is a beautifully preserved, completely original watch that offers some of the best value that is to be found anywhere on this website and could be enjoyed on the wrist on a regular basis, while remaining a very solid investment and an appreciating asset.
We always try to have a good selection of vintage Girard-Perregaux watches for sale on this site. These were very expensive when new and remain costly as collector’s items today, but their build and finish quality is exceptionally high and they make excellent alternatives for anyone wanting a vintage watch that is a little less obvious than those by Rolex, Omega and Jaeger LeCoultre.
Founded in 1791, Girard-Perregaux is one of the oldest of the major Swiss houses and one of the few that was established in the Georgian rather than Victorian era.
From the outset, it was primarily a producer of extremely high grade watches for a wealthy niche client base and over two centuries on, its position in the marketplace hasn’t really changed. Girard-Perregaux has never pursued the mass market and while it is held in very high regard by serious vintage watch aficionados, it remains largely unknown to the man in the street.
Queen Victoria was a Girard-Perregaux customer and by the mid-19th century, the brand was famous among the royal houses of Europe. Around 1880, a watch was supplied to King Victor Emmanuel of Italy. At this stage, production was limited to pocket watches, the wristwatch having not yet been invented.
Remarkably, Girard-Perregaux can lay credible claim to being the first ever serial producer of wristwatches. In 1879, Kaiser Wilhelm I placed an order with Girard-Perregaux for two thousand watches that could be worn on the wrists of officers in the German navy after discussing the possibilities of creating these items at the Berlin Exhibition of the same year, where Girard-Perregaux had a trade stand. These were duly delivered and, so the tale goes, the wristwatch for male use was born. This seems fairly easy to swallow. In nearly thirty years of daily involvement with vintage watches, in our business we’ve never encountered a man’s wristwatch that pre-dated this Girard-Perregaux batch and believe that we can pretty much accept at face value that this was the genesis of what we would regard today as the luxury wristwatch.
The majority of the vintage Girard-Perregaux watches for sale here were manufactured in the period running from the early 1920s through to the late 1960s. This was very much the golden age for Girard-Perregaux and indeed the high end Swiss mechanical watch industry in general. A well preserved, all original vintage watch from this period by any of the top tier makers will be outstanding and of a quality that has never been equalled since.
Interestingly, Girard-Perregaux wasn’t an entirely autonomous movement manufacturer, but instead took the route of purchasing ebauches ( this is the Swiss term for a movement in its most basic, completely raw, form, without components or finishing) from a small number of highly respected sources and then using them as building blocks for its own creations. The extent to which these were re-worked is quite remarkable, to the degree that in the past, we have sometimes had the devil of a job here trying to identify the ebauche calibre that had been used when describing some of these watches prior to putting them up for sale. Vintage Girard-Perregaux movements are the perfect argument that can be used in favour of ebauche use. Girard-Perregaux realised that as a relatively small concern, its resources were better spent in refining and perfecting movements by other makers rather than trying to create these from scratch. The results are spectacular and we would defy anyone to examine one of these vintage Girard-Perregaux mechanisms and find any aspect of it that is inferior to that of an in-house built Rolex, Omega or Zenith movement from the same period.
From the point of view of the collector looking for an epitomical model of Girard-Perregaux’s most innovative work, a good choice would be a Gyromatic from the late 1950s or early ‘60s. Launching its first automatic watch in 1956, Girard-Perregaux was a late adopter of self-winding, but came up with a brilliantly ingenious switching system that enabled motion of the rotor in both directions to be converted into mainspring tension. This switching was achieved by two so-called “Gyrotrones” and from a technical perspective, these movements are so different, and so beautifully executed, that they are an essential inclusion in any collection that aims to chart the progress of the automatic watch during its glorious post-war heyday.
Another must-have purchase for the purist collector would be any of the models that contain the Girard-Perregaux calibre 32A movement. Launched in 1965, it was the first commercially available fast beat movement and stands today as being of great historical importance. The technical teams at all the major Swiss houses had realised that, all else being equal, the faster the oscillation rate of its balance wheel, the more accurate a movement would be. Accordingly, in mid 1960s, there was a race to bring to market ever faster movements, these culminating in those units that ran at a lighting quick 36000 half beats per minute. The engineering skill required to design a reliable movement that could perform at this breakneck speed is staggering, and to this day, even more than forty years on, these are still some of the most remarkable watches that the Swiss factories have ever built. Fast beat watches are lovely things to own ( and to hold to one’s ear…), but they can be a minefield and it is very easy to purchase a worn example that will be troublesome and require constant attention. We always have a small selection of these models for sale in the best possible state of mechanical preservation, including the ground breaking vintage Girard-Perregaux version.
It is rather ironic that Girard-Perregaux, one of the most prestigious of the traditional luxury houses, should have been responsible, along with Jaeger LeCoultre, for the first commercially available Swiss battery powered quartz wristwatches. Launched in 1970, the calibre 352 movement, created as a collaborative project between these two grand old brands, started the quartz revolution of the 1970s that almost terminated the mechanical watch making industry. Today, these first generation Girard-Perregaux quartz watches are of great historical significance and while they can still be sourced in excellent order for as little as £500 or £600 pounds, it seems inevitable that they will rapidly appreciate in value in the near future. Again, we try to hold some stock of these but increasingly, replacing items sold without compromising our very high standards in relation to condition and authenticity is proving difficult.
Possibly because of the high cost of its watches and their sharp aesthetics, Girard-Perregaux has a very glamorous image. On the first page of the James Bond Novel “From Russia With Love”, author Ian Fleming wrote that a gold Girard-Perregaux on a brown crocodile strap was one of the “typical membership badges of the rich man’s club”. In more recent times, in 1996, Girard-Perregaux worked closely with Italian sports car manufacturer Ferrari to release a range of watches that bore the signatures of both brands.
Girard Perregaux Watches Serial Numbers Identification
As investments, it seems almost certain that vintage Girard-Perregaux watches have a bright future. At no point since the company’s foundation has Girard-Perregaux’s superb quality ever lapsed and as a result, there are no weak eras of production that could have otherwise tarnished the firm’s reputation. Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Bonhams always include a selection of vintage Girard-Perregaux watches for sale in their specialist fine horological auctions and while these sell for substantial sums, they fail to attract the same level of interest as their Rolex equivalents, not because of any intrinsic inferiority but simply on account of the former concern being less widely known.
Girard Perregaux Watches Serial Numbers
Importantly, Girard-Perregaux today appreciates how much can be gained by publicising its past glories. Both the firm’s website and its printed advertising material constantly references the excellence of its vintage watches and indeed, it uses these as a basis for a series of current re-issues, the most notable of which is the rectangular Girard-Perregaux Vintage 45, so named because of its stylistic similarity to a watch first offered by Girard-Perregaux at the end of World War II. Since 1999, a Girard-Perregaux factory museum has been open to the public in La Chaux de Fonds, Switzerland with an extensive collection of the company’s vintage pocket and wristwatches. A superb book “Girard-Perregaux” by Francois Chaille has recently appeared on the market specifically about the history of this important house, with the full co-operation of the management there. Following this policy is excellent news for the collector who owns, or is intending to purchase, a classic Girard-Perregaux. While the objective with this advertising is obviously to give a sense of history and credibility to brand new watches, it has the side effect of promoting the company’s vintage pieces at the same time. There is a clear correlation between the attitude of modern day watch brand owners and the values of that brand’s vintage watches. Girard-Perregaux today uses its past glories in a very positive way and as awareness of this remarkable institution grows and more buyers appreciate both the new and old watches of this venerable company, it seems almost inevitable that the worth of its vintage output will rise sharply over the next decade.