Eye on the Prize

The Girard-perregaux Cat’s Eye collection features some of the world’s most beautiful oval timepieces. Charmian Leong looks at the two new iterations

he ladies have, dare we say it, more adventurous tastes in watch design than the gentlemen. While men are often content with classically round and may venture as far as square- or tonneau-shaped cases, women have sought out watches that make a bold statement on the wrist. This penchant for the distinctive has made the iconically oval Cat’s Eye collection by Girard-perregaux so popular for the past 13 years, and this year, the watchmaker is thrilled to welcome two new models. Girard-perregaux has long been a strong advocate for creating complicated watches for women, as evidenced by the tourbillons and day/night watches in the collection. The year 2017 adds a dedicated moonphase to the mix with the Cat’s Eye Celestial. The moon, depicted with mother-of-pearl marquetry and slightly domed for added depth, is spectacularly large. Coming in at almost 9mm in diameter, its gentle shimmer contrasts brilliantly against the natural sparkle of the deep blue aventurine sky. It makes one complete rotation every 59 days and, given the watchmaker’s exacting standards, will only require a correction every 360 years. Encircling the poetic complication is a ring of hand-guilloched mother-of-pearl, on which sit diamond hour markers, bringing the total to 33 brilliant-cut stones including the ones in the inner dial. The 35.4mm by 30.4mm pink gold case is set with a further 62 brilliant-cut diamonds—glamorous enough for a gala, but not too flashy that it would look out of place in the boardroom. While Girard-perregaux is known for pioneering quartz movements good enough for mass production by increasing accuracy and battery life, it has chosen a mechanical one for the Cat’s Eye Celestial—an admittedly welcome change from the deluge of quartzpowered ladies’ watches on the market. The automatic GP03300-0125 runs at a respectable 4Hz and has a power reserve of 46 hours. Great care has also been given to its finishing. Côtes de Genève and circular-graining on the main plate, blued steel screws, and the tapestry motif and the brand logo decorating the oscillating weight

STEELY EYED The Girard-perregaux Cat’s Eye Small Seconds in steel (left) and Cat’s Eye Celestial (above and right) timepieces are elegantly designed and their oval cases are versatile enough to suit even the daintiest wrist