The new Girard-Perregaux 1957 watch sports a design inspired by the Swiss manufacture’s iconic model from the sixties.

Launched as part of the manufacture’s 225^th anniversary celebrations this year, the 40-mm steel watch features a vintage design strongly inspired by the aesthetic codes of Girard-Perregaux’s Gyromatic watches from the 1960s.

In 1957, Girard-Perregaux invented the Gyromatic system, which became a milestone in the development of the self-winding wristwatch.

One of the major challenges associated with automatic winding is how to turn the circular to-and-fro movement of the rotor into the one-way circular motion that can actually wind the mainspring.

For this, engineers usually use a motion reverser, featuring ratcheted wheels. However, the stronger the pawls and teeth, the larger they are, leading to an increase in idle travel. The solution lies in using smaller, hence more fragile components, never quite a satisfactory compromise.

The Gyromatic substitutes roller-equipped unidirectional clutches for the ratchet wheels and its compactness opens the way for slim, sleek and stylish designs.

The system has since been used in thousands of Girard- Perregaux timepieces including its top-of-the-line Gyromatic HF (for high frequency), the self-winding watch equivalent of a Formula One car.

In 1966, the Neuchâtel Observatory’s prestigious Centenary Prize acknowledged Girard-Perregaux’s superior ability. The next year, no less than 73 pre cent of all rating certificates were attributed to Girard-Perregaux high frequency watches, a tribute to the extreme precision which the manufacture had brought to mechanical technology.

The 1957, with its glass box, retro champagne dial and luminescent dauphine hands proudly recalls this heritage.

A stainless steel case polished on top and brushed on the sides encloses the vintage dial under a sapphire glass whose design is inspired by the plexyglass of the past. The 1957 comes with an open caseback showing the in-house GP03300 movement which has traditional finishes from the seventies, a ‘Côtes de Genève’, and circular graining on the main plate and rotor.

The watch is water resistant to 30 m, and comes with a black alligator strap.