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Wristwatches · Wristwatch

Girard Perregaux Triple Calendar, 1950s

DocumentedDocumented from a dealer's listing; attribution and date as stated by the dealer.
Maker / attribution
Girard-Perregaux (maker)
Date
1950s
Country of origin
Switzerland
Object type
Wristwatch
Dimensions
Case 34 mm
Stock no.
Product 6580568391767
Credit line
Dealer listing, S.Song Watches (product 6580568391767)
Catalogue title (original)
Girard Perregaux Triple Calendar (English)

View the source record (dealer listing) ↗ (opens another website in a new tab)Suggest a correction

Record summary

Catalogued by S.Song Watches (dealer), Seattle (stock number Product 6580568391767), this is a wristwatch by Girard-Perregaux, made in Switzerland, dated 1950s. The Atlas places it in the Modern Mechanical Horology period (1945 – 1969) of its Wristwatches collection. Recorded dimensions: Case 34 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 — S.Song Watches

Girard Perregaux was an extremely small manufacture that produced watches in very low quantities back in the day. Despite this, they were known for their incredibly high-quality pieces and were considered a ‘high-end’ brand. The Triple Calendar Ref. 5638 you see today is one of the nicest pieces that came out of the brand and it has so many details going for it. Sized in a 34mm stainless steel case, despite its smaller diameter, it has long elegant lugs that really hug the wrist well and wears much larger as a result. The frosted white dial has a beautiful warm tone and is accentuated by applied Breguet numerals, blued steel feuille hands, and a blue outer calendar track. Two apertures at 12 o’clock completes the look displaying the day and the month. This is one of the most elegant and beautiful wristwatches I have come across with proportionality and details at the core of its design language. To recap, what you get is a very rare watch made in low quantities, a complicated triple calendar, manual winding in-house GP 39 212 movement housed in a stainless steel case with a dial featuring Breguet numerals and blued steel hands. The details of this watch really set it apart and the cherry on top is the fact that it comes in an extremely well-preserved state.

Historical context

Modern Mechanical Horology (1945 – 1969)

Tool watches for divers, pilots and astronauts; electric watches anticipate the electronic age.

The classic era of the mechanical wristwatch: dive watches, chronographs for motor racing and space flight, GMT watches for jet travel, slim dress watches, automatic calendars, and the rise of Japanese manufacturers alongside Swiss, American, German and Soviet industries.

Read the period in the timelineMore wristwatches from this periodEarlier: Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking

Atlas type guide

Calendar, moon-phase and perpetual calendar watches

Calendar complications range from a simple date to the perpetual calendar, which automatically allows for months of different lengths and leap years until 2100. Pocket watches with perpetual calendars were made in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; Patek Philippe made the first perpetual calendar wristwatch in 1925, and series production followed in 1941. The annual calendar (Patek Philippe, 1996) needs correction only once a year.

Moon-phase displays use a disc with two moons and 59 teeth advanced daily, approximating the 29.5-day lunation; more precise trains reduce the error to one day in over a century.

What to look for

  • Apertures or subsidiary dials for day, date, month and leap year.
  • Moon disc under a 'bosom' shaped aperture.
  • Recessed correctors on the case band for setting the calendar.

Dating clues

  • Triple-date wristwatches: popular c. 1940–1955.
  • Perpetual calendar wristwatches: from 1925 (unique) and 1941 (series).

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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