ReviewIn Vino Veritas: Presenting The Girard-Perregaux 1966 Château Latour Edition

Girard-Perregaux are known for crafting some of the finest watches in the haute horlogerie business, which are hallmarks of the highest standards of fine watchmaking. And it only gets more interesting when the Swiss brand with a rich horological legacy of over 200 years, collaborates with interesting companies to create timepieces that are imbued with the DNA of both brands. Their latest release, the 1966 Château Latour Edition is a masterpiece where the dial is crafted from pebbles sourced from the vineyards of the famous Château Latour—a French wine estate, situated in the Médoc region to the north-west of Bordeaux. This comes in a limited-edition of 18 pieces only and is a perfect embodiment of Girard-Perregaux’s commitment to innovation by embracing new technologies and utilising state-of-the-art materials to add joy to the art of watchmaking.

“We share much in common with Château Latour. We both have a rich history, a know-how amassed over hundreds of years … an ancestral savoir-faire. We recognise the importance of our people, how their passion and skill is reflected in the products we create. And, lastly, we recognise that the terroir [the natural environment in which a particular wine is produced, including factors such as soil, topography, and climate] is key to product excellence. I am delighted to work with one of the most prestigious vineyards in the world,” remarks Patrick Pruniaux, CEO, Girard-Perregaux, while highlighting the importance of this partnership in an official statement. Here are more details.

Each dial crafted for this limited-edition series necessitates around 30 hours of meticulous work. The interesting bit is in selecting the pebbles; the palest pebbles reflect light, accelerating the photosynthesis process, while the darker pebbles harvest the daytime sun, releasing heat throughout the night. Tapping into the beauty of these pebbles and understanding which one to pick is the first challenge

Set In Stone: The Girard-Perregaux 1966 Château Latour Edition

Each dial crafted for this limited-edition series necessitates around 30 hours of meticulous work. The interesting bit is in selecting the pebbles; the palest pebbles reflect light, accelerating the photosynthesis process, while the darker pebbles harvest the daytime sun, releasing heat throughout the night. Tapping into the beauty of these pebbles and understanding which one to pick is the first challenge. The maison have used light-coloured pebbles gathered from the Château Latour vineyard.

The maison have used light-coloured pebbles from the Château Latour vineyard, and each dial crafted for this limited-edition series necessitates around 30 hours of meticulous work

Careful consideration is also given to the potential fragility of the pebbles—this is important to ensure that no dial hampers the accuracy of the movement

Since natural stones are used for creating the dials, it’s only natural for each dial to vary in appearance, with subtle differences in shade, small fissures, hollows and inclusions

The artisan cuts and grinds each pebble, reducing its thickness to a mere sliver, measuring 0.45mm in depth. This disc is then mounted on a brass base, resulting in a total thickness of just 0.70mm

These variables make the fabrication of each dial challenging, resulting in some dials not making the cut since only the finest examples are used

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Each dial is painstakingly crafted with skilled hands and is a tedious process. Here, the artisan cuts and grinds each pebble, carefully reducing its thickness to a mere sliver, measuring 0.45mm in depth. This disc of pebble is mounted on a brass base, resulting in a total thickness of just 0.70mm. Since natural stones are used for creating the dials, it’s only natural for each dial to vary in appearance, with subtle differences in shade, small fissures, hollows and inclusions. These variables make the fabrication of each dial challenging, resulting in some dials not making the cut since only the finest examples are used. Careful consideration is also given to the potential fragility of the pebbles—this is important to ensure that no dial hampers the accuracy of the movement.

The Girard-Perregaux 1966 Château Latour Edition comes in a resplendent 18-karat pink-gold case measuring 40mm with a water-resistance of up to 30m. This framework forms a fine fit for the subtle yellow hues of the pebble dial. The golden leaf-shaped hour, minute, and seconds hands look quite stately and complement the slender indexes. There is a date window positioned at three o’clock and the dial follows a minimalistic design approach so as to not take away the focus from the beauty of the natural stone.

The Girard-Perregaux 1966 Château Latour Edition comes in a resplendent 18-karat pink-gold case measuring 40mm with a water-resistance of up to 30m

It is driven Calibre GP03300—an in-house automatic movement, enriched with a plethora of refined details, and a pink-gold rotor. It is visible through an exhibition caseback adorned with the Château Latour logo

It is driven by the Calibre GP03300—an in-house automatic movement, enriched with a plethora of refined details, such as chamfering, circular graining, circular and straight Côtes de Genève, engravings, mirror-polishing, satin finish, snailing, and sunray finish. It operates at a frequency of 28,800vph and supplies a power reserve of at least 46 hours. The movement is adorned with a pink-gold rotor and is visible through a sapphire crystal caseback adorned with the Château Latour logo.