# A New Arrival - Girard Perregaux Early Quartz



## JonW (Mar 23, 2005)

Well this is quite a cool thing, if you bear in mind its era its very cool indeed, and would have cost the first owner some serious dough back in the day... The watch came with its box (although it looks earlier to me the previous owner assures me its original and he is a big GP collector so should know).

GP cal 35x was one of the very earliest quartz movts and these are really well made, thought parts are not exactly thick on the ground these days... Some will remember I have a Favre Leuba with the 352 movt, well this is a 353... basically the same thing under the covers. The great thing about early quartz is that the secs hand lines up on the markers, unlike the cheapo quartz we get these days...

The FL is quite a bit bigger but you can see it uses the same bracelet and similar case design clues. I assume the GP is also also a mans watch as its still a good size (and the same width as the FL), its just the its slightly later than the FL and I guess GP were doing their best to make the watches smaller again. The FL has an antimag cover and is thicker all round, the GP has no antimag etc. Perhaps they had then relaised that quartz wasnt about to break if you didnt put it in a case that could survive thermo nuclear war 

The marble dial is a paint effect (with chips of something I think) and it really is quite something. Ive seen lots of lapis and moondust 'crackle' dials on Omegas and FLs etc but this appears to be a combination of the two and is new to me. Yeah its a bit light in colour to be 'very manly' but its not too light in daylight to get beat up wink.gif :biggirn:

All in all, another superb early quartz to add to the collection. These are such great value for money Im really pleased no one else has noticed them. 

One interesting detail on the GP is that the back has a styleised 'M' like a signature, I wonder if this was some kind of artist's sig? Anyone know more?

Pictures with my FL... it was obvious I would do this... so you could see the differences and also see the evolution of the design... I still like the FL the best out of all my early quartz, its such a solid chunk, but this GP is very nice indeed.


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## JonW (Mar 23, 2005)




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## KEITHT (Dec 2, 2007)

M for Monet....not saying that he painted it of course , but is the dial not sort of in his style!

Either way, interesting, and FYI the case is almost identical to my Longines Electronic ( ESA 9150 Dynatron ).


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## JonW (Mar 23, 2005)

Good point... the dial is very reminicient of Monet's The Water Lilly Pond...


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## JonW (Mar 23, 2005)

Ive emailed GP in the hope they can tell me more...


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## JonW (Mar 23, 2005)

The only type of sig I could find on google was this... Im not wholly convinced....


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## Silver Hawk (Dec 2, 2003)

Nice pictures Jon (I like Monet) ...but I'm having trouble "getting into" these early quartz watches...although its nice to see a cog (plastic though!) on your movement shot. I'm not keen on my own Megaquartz and far prefer the Megasonic  .

There is one early quartz I'd go for...just because the movement is the daftest looking thing I've ever seen. Longines Cal. 6512

Cheers

Paul


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## mjolnir (Jan 3, 2006)

You do find the interesting ones Jon. The older quartz watches all seem to have such excellent movements.

I really like that dial although I think I prefer the chunkier case of your FL.

Good luck finding out more about it.


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## mach 0.0013137 (Jan 10, 2005)

Jon that`s my `M` on the back!! 

The watch was nicked from me years ago, be a good chap & post it back to me ( I miss it so much) & I`ll forgo contacting Interpol :wink2:


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## JonW (Mar 23, 2005)

Paul, I exist to educate you my friend... keep on this path and we will have you right in no time... 

mjolnir, Thanks mate... yeah the FL is my fave too, but it is way bigger than it needed to be really... so I can see what GP were doing here and it makes for a more wearable watch. 

Mach... Ahh..... I had hoped you wouldnt read this part of the forum.... but, I have to say... If you want it, come and get it! :tongue2:


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## Silver Hawk (Dec 2, 2003)

JonW said:


> Paul, I exist to educate you my friend... keep on this path and we will have you right in no time...


'Fraid not Jon. Sorry.


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## JonW (Mar 23, 2005)

you didnt give it long enough.... sigh... typical..... lets see how you go with the Divers New Years resolution thing this year and then go from there.....


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## Silver Hawk (Dec 2, 2003)

JonW said:


> lets see how you go with the Divers New Years resolution thing this year and then go from there.....


Signature tidied up.


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## mach 0.0013137 (Jan 10, 2005)

JonW said:


> Mach... Ahh..... I had hoped you wouldnt read this part of the forum.... but, I have to say... If you want it, come and get it! :tongue2:




Darn it !! :taz:

If only I didn`t have a no-flying rule :cry2:

The things we greenies have to sacifice for our beliefs


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## JonW (Mar 23, 2005)

Silver Hawk said:


> JonW said:
> 
> 
> > lets see how you go with the Divers New Years resolution thing this year and then go from there.....
> ...


Ahh, I will call you 'Leopard....'



mach 0.0013137 said:


> JonW said:
> 
> 
> > Mach... Ahh..... I had hoped you wouldnt read this part of the forum.... but, I have to say... If you want it, come and get it! :tongue2:
> ...


Wow... really? Mach im impressed, youre carbon offsetting for me and the rest of the forum there I think. Ta


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## Agent orange (Feb 11, 2006)

Fantastic catch Jon, well done mate unk: . What's really striking is the case depth on your Favre Leuba, I never realised they were that deep .

Cheers,

Gary


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## JonW (Mar 23, 2005)

Thanks Gary. Yeah the FL is a bit of a beast actually... LOL


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