The year 1969 continues to have a lasting impression on the current generation, and there’s still plenty of life in the throwback trend, it would seem. This week, Girard-Perregaux is returning to the era by bringing back their Deep Diver concept from 1969 (ref. 9108), using a design from 1971. The watch will be a part of the brand’s Legacy Edition collection, which will presumably house other historic watches, such as the Cassquette, moving ahead. Girard-Perregaux has no shortage of great designs in their back catalog, so this will be a project to keep an eye on. The Deep Diver enjoys all the hallmarks you’d expect of the era, and with the help of Bamford Watch Department, it’s been brought back to life in a vibrant way.
The original Deep Diver concept was quite distinctive visually, and used the brand’s Gyromatic system in the movement, which allowed the automatic winding system to harvest energy in both directions of travel. Its 200 meter depth rating, while perfectly suitable, didn’t exactly cut the beam as a “deep diver” and that remains the case today. It might be a semantics issue, but beefing up this single stat to live up to the name would have been welcome with this latest release. The real star, then and now, was the design of the case and dial.
The new Deep Diver uses a familiar cushion shaped case with sharp lines and a radial brush, and here it’s rendered in titanium. It measures a hair over 40mm across, and 38mm from top to bottom, and with something of an integrated lug it should wear quite nicely, if a bit tanky thanks to the 13.9mm total thickness. The tall midcase meets a sloping top surface, and the whole thing has a gentle curvature which should help with wearability. The polished 12 sided bezel, a distinctive feature of the original, remains here.
This is a case with a lot going on, but the dial stands on its own thanks to bold colors and shapes that embrace the early ‘70s vibes. An orange center section is joined by white and blue exterior sections, each shaped to display orange hour markers along with an internally rotating bezel, which can be manipulated via the crown at two o’clock. The design of the Arabic numerals on that bezel are blocky and graphic, providing a big part of the personality as a whole. Notably, the hands are infilled with an orange lume that looks to match the color of the dial, which could cause them to blend in at a glance. However, the oversized tip of the minute hand cuts into the white chapter ring, making it stick out with priority.
Inside, Girard-Perregaux are using their own GP03300-2339 automatic caliber. In a somewhat ironic twist, the automatic winding system of this movement only winds when moving in a clockwise direction. No Gyromax here, unfortunately (though this is undoubtedly a far more efficient movement all around). The movement is visible through an exhibition back, but only just, as it’s been given a blue tint and covered with a trident and “Deep Diver” mark.
This design was done in collaboration with Bamford Watch Department, and the dial even bears the Bamford name. It’s entirely clear what was contributed to the design or manufacturing, exactly, by BWD, but the big colors and overall design, not to mention the square like cushion case, feel very much on brand for the British customizer, and the watch will be available through the BWD website, in addition to from Girard-Perregaux themselves.
The Deep Diver will be limited to 350 units produced, and is priced at $15,100. The watch ships with both a blue and an orange rubber strap with a flat link press that dials up the throwback vibes. There are plenty of other prestigious dive watches to be had in this price range, but none that will quite match the personality of the Deep Diver, which will be a good or a bad thing depending on what you’re looking for. Either way, the big takeaway here could be the formation of the Legacy Editions by Girard-Perregaux, which could signal more heritage timepieces to come. Girard-Perregaux | Bamford Watch Department
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