Girard-Perregaux 1966 Château Latour Edition
Swiss luxury watch brand Girard-Perregaux has released a special edition 1966 model in collaboration with the French wine estate Château Latour. This pink gold watch features an exotic dial made of Pebble originating from Château Latour vineyards.
Founded in 1331, Château Latour is ranked since 1855 among the 5 ‘Premiers Crus Classés’ from the Médoc region of France. This culture of excellence is perpetuated by the men and women working in both the vineyard and the estate’s cellars.
Château Latour’s terroir is unique courtesy of its mild climate, geological complexity and its proximity to the estuary. The ground beneath the vines is dressed in a thick blanket of pebbles.
The palest pebbles reflect light, accelerating the photosynthesis process, while the darker pebbles harvest the daytime sun, releasing heat throughout the night. Recognising the beauty of the pebbles, Girard-Perregaux has created 18 exclusive timepieces featuring dials formed of light-coloured pebbles gathered from the Château Latour vineyard.
Each dial is painstakingly crafted with skilled hands. The artisan cuts and grinds each pebble, carefully reducing its thickness to a mere sliver, measuring 0.45mm in depth. This disc of pebble is mounted on a brass base, resulting in a total thickness of just 0.70mm. A function of using natural pebbles is that each piece varies in appearance and structure. Indeed, a closer look reveals subtle differences in shade, small fissures, hollows and inclusions.
These variables make the fabrication of each dial challenging, resulting in some not passing muster or even breaking. Only the finest examples are used, the culmination of 30 hours of meticulous work.
Due consideration is also given to the potential fragility of the pebbles, ensuring no dial is used which could impair the precision or reliability of the movement. The resultant appearance of each dial is unique, conferring a notable degree of exclusivity.
The case of the 1966 Château Latour Edition is designed to complement the dial’s bewitching complexion. Formed of pink gold, it accentuates the subtle yellow hues of the pebble dial.
The golden leaf-shaped hour and minute hands are elegant and impart meaning clearly, working in concert with the slender indexes. A centre seconds hand and date display complete the inventory of functions. In the world of winemaking, time is hugely important and is a prerequisite to the making of the finest Bordeaux wines.
A sapphire crystal case-back, adorned with the Château Latour logo, affords sight of the Calibre GP03300. This self-winding movement features exemplary finishing, including chamfering, circular graining, circular and straight Côtes de Genève, engravings, mirror-polishing, satin finish, snailing and sunray finish.
While the movement is made in-house, some parts of the watch are sourced locally. Indeed, 90% of the watch components are made within a 100km radius of La Chaux-de-Fonds.
The 1966 Château Latour Edition unites the terroir of the estate with the horological refinement practiced by Girard-Perregaux, the prestigious Manufacture based in La Chaux-de-Fonds.
The watch, limited and numbered to 18 pieces, will be exclusively and only available to the private guests of the Château Latour estate and the Villa Girard-Perregaux in La Chaux-de-Fonds, the ancestral home of the Manufacture.
About Château Latour
Château Latour is situated in the heart of the Médoc wine region, about 50 km north-west of Bordeaux, where the legend of the vineyards of Bordeaux began. The Château’s prime terroir, l’Enclos, overlooks the estuary of the Gironde river which, over the centuries, has given the vineyard its geological complexity and, on a daily basis, ensure a mild climate.
Most of Château Latour’s vines are planted on gravelly hilltops that stand 12 to 16 meters above the Gironde estuary. The fortunate combination of the Gironde, layers of gravel on the surface and clay subsoil gives Château Latour’s terroir advantages that few other vineyards can claim.
It is the grapes from the 47 hectares that surround the Château, known as “l’Enclos” that may potentially be used in the production of the Grand Vin. The estate is planted with about 76% of Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% of Merlot and 2% of Petit Verdot.
In the years since 1993, under the leadership of François Pinault, the estate’s owner, significant changes have been made with a view to maintaining Château Latour’s pursuit of excellence in the wines that it produces.
The 95 hectares of the estate are managed by Frédéric Engerer and his team. All the men and women working at Château Latour in both the vineyard and the cellar are motivated by a search of perfection.
Model: Girard-Perregaux 1966 Château Latour Edition, Reference 49555-52-3160-2GC
Case
Material: Pink gold
Diameter: 40.00 mm
Height: 9.40 mm
Glass: Anti-reflective sapphire crystal
Case-back: Sapphire crystal case-back with Château Latour logo metallization
Water resistance: 30 meters (3 ATM)
Dial
Pebble originating from Château Latour vineyards
Hands: Golden, leaf shaped
Movement
Reference: GP03300-2180
Self-winding mechanical movement
Diameter: 25.60 mm (111/2’’’)
Height: 3.36 mm
Frequency: 28,800 Vib/h – (4 Hz)
Number of components: 218
Number of jewels: 27
Power reserve: min. 46 hours
Functions: Hours, minutes, central second, date
Strap
Material: Brown alligator strap
Buckle: Pink gold pin buckle
Edition
Limited edition of 18 numbered pieces
Retail price
CHF 36’000
