With a thickness of only 2.45 mm, it remains one of the world’s thinnest automatic movements. In 2006, Girard-Perregaux introduced its 1966 collection, named to commemorate the Observatory award.Īudemars Piguet’s Caliber 2120 debuted in 1967. Girard-Perregaux would soon afterward enter the history books by introducing Switzerland’s first mass-produced quartz watch, which essentially made its mechanical high-frequency watch obsolete.
The winning timepiece incorporated two of the company’s inventions: the self-winding Gyromatic system and a fast-beat caliber that achieved a frequency of 36,000 vph.
In 1966 - a year in which Switzerland’s cantons began debating voting rights for women and a Swiss referee made the controversial call that awarded soccer’s World Cup to England over Germany at London’s Wembley Stadium - the Swiss watch manufacturer Girard-Perregaux received the Centenary Prize from the Neuchâtel Observatory for extraordinary achievements in watchmaking. This head-to-head matchup of the two slender timepieces, with original photography by Zuckerfabrik Fotodesign, originally appeared in the magazine’s print edition. As watch lovers rediscover the thin, classically elegant timepiece, WatchTime reviews two that represent the trend: the Audemars Piguet Jules Audemars Extra Thin and the Girard-Perregaux 1966.
