Wristwatches · Wristwatch
Girard Perregaux Alarm, 1970s
- Maker / attribution
- Girard-Perregaux (maker)
- Date
- 1970s
- Historical period
- Quartz Revolution (1969 – 1990)
- Country of origin
- Switzerland
- Object type
- Wristwatch
- Dimensions
- Case 35 mm
- Stock no.
- 40991971
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Analog/Shift (40991971)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Girard Perregaux Alarm (English)
View the source record (dealer listing) ↗ (opens another website in a new tab)Suggest a correction
Record summary
Catalogued by Analog/Shift (dealer), New York (stock number 40991971), this is a wristwatch by Girard-Perregaux, made in Switzerland, dated 1970s. The Atlas places it in the Quartz Revolution period (1969 – 1990) of its Wristwatches collection. Recorded dimensions: Case 35 mm. The record is illustrated with 6 photographs.
Assembled from the source record's structured fields. Dates and attributions are given as the source states them; where a field is missing the Atlas leaves it blank rather than estimating.
Catalogue description
Dealer description — Analog/Shift
Modern life is punctuated by the sound of alarms. But these tinny ringtones are nothing compared to the robust sound that resonates from a vintage alarm watch. These watches were meant to be heard , and one listen transports you back to a time when all you needed to know was right there on your wrist. Vulcain started it all back in the 1940s with the Cricket. Known as the watch of Presidents for being gifted to every U.S. President since Truman (except George W. Bush), the Cricket—despite the rarified nickname—has seen some of the world’s most forbidding climates. The jungles of the Amazon, the forbidding slopes of K2, even the deepest depths of the ocean—the Cricket has seen it all. Not to be outdone, other brands, like Girard Perregaux, started releasing their own versions of wrist alarm watches throughout the 1950s. This particular example, dating from the 1970s, is one of the most aesthetically sophisticated takes on the genre. Featuring a 35mm stainless steel cushion case, "pie-pan" style silver dial with applied indices, and framed by a period-correct domed acrylic crystal, this beauty is powered by the manually-wound AS calibre 1475. While most alarm watches feature an inner rotating bezel on the perimeter of the dial, this GP is a bit more demure , only exposing the alarm ring above 6 o'clock. Exquisite. The Cricket and Memovox may be the go-to choices in this watch genre, but set yourself apart with this GP, the thinking man's alarm.
Historical context
Quartz Revolution (1969 – 1990)
Seiko's Astron begins mass quartz timekeeping; traditional industries contract sharply.
Quartz and digital watches transformed the market after 1969. Swiss employment collapsed, Japanese and Hong Kong production soared, and the Swatch (1983) helped the Swiss industry recover; mechanical watches survived as luxury goods.
Read the period in the timelineMore wristwatches from this periodEarlier: Modern Mechanical Horology
Atlas type guide
Wristwatches
Bracelet watches were worn by women from the early nineteenth century — Breguet made one for Caroline Murat, Queen of Naples, in 1810–12 — but the wristwatch only became a man's instrument with military use and aviation in the early twentieth century. Between the World Wars it overtook the pocket watch; the 1920s and 1930s brought rectangular Art Deco cases, water-resistant cases and the first automatic winding systems.
After 1945 the wristwatch became a carrier of identity — dress watches, sports and dive watches, chronographs, calendars — produced by Swiss, American, Japanese, German, Soviet and Chinese industries. The quartz revolution after 1969 and the mechanical renaissance since the 1990s, including the rise of independent watchmakers, complete the story.
What to look for
- The reference number (between the lugs or inside the case back) and serial number, the starting point for dating.
- The calibre: its maker and number are often stamped under the dial or on the bridge.
- Originality of dial, hands and crown — refinished ('redial') dials are common.
- Case material marks: 18K/750, 14K/585, stainless steel, gold-filled, plated.
Dating clues
- Wire-lug cases: before c. 1925.
- Water-resistant screw-down cases: from 1926.
- Quartz movements: from 1969; sapphire crystals widespread after c. 1980.
General guidance written by the Atlas editors about this kind of object. It is not a statement about this particular piece; for that, rely on the source record above and on physical examination.
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