DEPLOYANT – Luxury watch reviews & horological lifestyles – Luxury watch reviews & horological lifestyles
Girard-Perregaux is a well known name in the world of horology, and have produced some iconic pieces such as the Tourbillon with Three Golden Bridges, the classic 1966 and Laureato series. They recently updated their collection with the new Laureato in SIHH 2017, but also revealed a new design which they call the Neo-Bridges.
Girard-Perregaux Neo-Bridges
Despite perhaps being comparatively low key compared to household names like Patek Philippe, Rolex and Omega, GP has some clout in watchmaking heritage, having been founded in 1791. This makes it the middle child of the 3 oldest Swiss brands, older than even the venerable Patek Philippe which was founded in 1839, but younger than Vacheron Constantin which was founded in 1755.
At first glance, the Neo-Bridges is a modern artistic take on a skeletonised dial. Upon closer inspection, though, many intricate details reveal themselves.
The full frontal of the paradoxically bare-bones yet elaborate face of the Neo-Bridges
Case, Dial and Hands
The case is a constructed from lightweight titanium, measuring 45mm across and sitting 12.2mm tall. One will realise quite immediately upon picking this piece up, that the Neo-Bridges is quite very light for its size. This is undoubtedly thanks to the titanium case, but this writer has handled titanium-cased watches that seemed to weigh almost double of the Neo-Bridges.
The case does retain that grey allure that accompanies titanium and is given a brushed texture. Paired with the dial, the case works well as a perfect match for the overall aesthetic and adds to the charm rather than stand out on its own. As with most pieces with a 45mm case, the first concern that springs to mind is the wearability. Girard-Perregaux have anticipated this and incorporated short lugs into the Neo-Bridges, making the lug-to-lug length barely any longer than the actual case size. This is an important consideration that can make large watches wear small and vice versa. On the case alone, the Neo-Bridges has scored a tick in our books.
Wonderfully satin brushed and polished titanium case with short lugs makes it so wearable
Moving on to the dial, or the lack of it, one is greeted by a seeming jumble of elements. As previously mentioned, only on closer inspection does one truly notice the thoughtfully placed components of the movement. The micro oscillating weight at 10 o’clock is balanced out by the similarly finished barrel at 2 o’clock.The circular trinity is completed by the large 10.15mm balance wheel at 6 o’clock whirring away at 21,600 bph. Each of these components is fastened down to the movement with the namesake bridges. The layout is reminiscent of the ones used in their Three Bridges Tourbillons, but with a modern, almost avant garde aesthetic.
An alternative interpretation would be to view the bridges as “seat belts” or “rims” bolstering each “wheel” onto the movement. These bring angularity to counter the roundness of the case and the “wheels”, and are executed to symmetrical perfection.
The 3-D layering effect is clearly seen with the watch at this angle.
And yet, so far […]
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Article from: DEPLOYANT – Luxury watch reviews & horological lifestyles, by Ryan Teoh
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