TURNING FIFTY

Girard-Perregaux rolls out an important new engine of time, ahead of something new on the sports elegance front

- WORDS ASHOK SOMAN

When is a movement more than the sum of its parts? There are many answers to that but the most useful, if banal, is this: when it drives the hands to deliver the most steady rate possible, while encased within the protective shell of a case.

Before this, a movement is just a rebel in search of a cause, if you will; we can manage a better metaphor here. With Formula 1 season well and truly upon us, you might consider if you would prefer looking at the engine and studying its awesome structure as an exhibit, or if you would rather see it power a race car, as it should.

All this preamble is just a way of pointing out the obvious: Watch brands have good reasons not to present movements independently, at least for the public's eyes. With the new Calibre GP4800, Girard-Perregaux scraped that particular bit of the playbook. In fact, although the embargo broke in September, the brand has been talking about this movement and the watches it will power for some time now with select press, of which WOW Singapore is one. Despite hundreds of years of manufacturing history, 80 patents, more than 30 active movements, with notable entries in 1998 (calibre 3300) and 2017 (calibre 1800), the La Chaux-des-Fonds brand wants to make an impact with the new Calibre GP4800. The manufacture thinks that the best way to navigate the chaos of our times is methodically, and we agree.

We already published the movement reveal online, but all embargoes have since passed so, of course, the specific collection of watches is known too: the Laureato, which celebrates its 50th birthday with this new calibre, the momentous Calibre GP4800, which we will henceforth refer to as GP4800.