This post was originally published on this site
Girard-Perregaux and Saint Laurent Rive Droite collaborated on an iteration of the Casquette, a sleek wristwatch with an unusual time display.
Girard-Perregaux, the Swiss brand that describes itself as “synonymous with haute horlogerie,” released a watch last month that wasn’t the usual métiers d’art showcase of traditional craftsmanship. This limited edition had a quartz movement and, in lieu of a dial, a narrow window with a tubular LED time display.
The Casquette 2.0 Saint Laurent 02 is the latest in a series of updated re-creations of a watch that Girard-Perregaux produced from 1976 to 1978. Although the iterations were known officially by their serial numbers, the watch is best known by its nickname Casquette, or cap in French, describing the shape of its sleek case and narrow time display.
“It was such a twist in the ’70s for a brand that comes from high horology to break the norms and come with a watch that has such a unique design,” said Patrick Pruniaux, the chairman and chief executive of Sowind Group, which owns Girard-Perregaux. “It’s very interesting to go back to that spirit of the mid-70s — to make great high horology watches, and we’re also able to make watches that are so different.”
The new watch, made of extra-strong titanium, is a collaboration with Saint Laurent Rive Droite; an earlier version with the fashion house, in black ceramic and titanium, was issued last summer. The 2024 version is sold at Saint Laurent Babylone in Paris; at the brand’s boutique in Beverly Hills, Calif.; and to online customers in select countries.
“This is the type of object — I’m not even talking timepiece, but object — that could be appealing to them,” Mr. Pruniaux said, referring to the fashion house, “and to all the creativity and the images that Saint Laurent carries.”
At Saint Laurent Babylone — a space that its Instagram page describes as a “bookstore and gallery, curated by Anthony Vaccarello,” the house’s creative director — the watch is 5,500 euros. In the Beverly Hills store, it is $7,500.