Eye on the Sky

Girard-perregaux’s new high jewellery watch is a mesmerising sight, says Nicolette Wong

There is something immeasurably romantic about the stars. Their twinkle in the night sky is so captivating that we continually try to capture their beauty in art and photography, so that we will always be able to look upon them. Little wonder then that aventurine, a deep blue material with gold inflections that resemble the stars in the night sky, should prove popular in the watchmaking world now. One standout piece among them is the Girard-perregaux Cat’s Eye Day & Night launched this year. The Cat’s Eye Day & Night is the first watch in the collection to be interpreted as a high jewellery creation, adding a sparkling new dimension to the line. The watch carries the same design codes as the rest of the brethren with the signature leaf-shaped hands and oval case and dial. In this iteration of the Cat’s Eye, however, the middle part of the dial is round, like a real cat’s dilated pupil, and made of aventurine. The deep indigo material sparkles with flecks of white gold and is further enhanced by the double row of diamonds encircling the watch face. And because you can never have enough diamonds, the white gold case and lugs are also set with the brilliant gems, as is the aperture of the day and night indication at 6 o’clock. Of course, the Cat’s Eye Day & Night wouldn’t be complete without its namesake day and night indication, which is accomplished thanks to an engraved white gold plate underneath the dial that completes a full rotation every 24 hours. Half of the plate bears an engraving of the sun, while the other half plays host to the moon. The indication is synchronised with the hours and minutes of the day, and thus requires no independent adjustment. The watch houses the self-winding GP330-0090 movement, which is designed, developed and produced in-house, and has a power reserve of 46 hours. The movement is also nicely finished, with circular graining and Geneva stripes on the mainplate and bridges. The gold rotor is also engraved with the brand’s tapestry motif, for your viewing pleasure through the caseback. Girard-perregaux does not often produce jewellery watches, but when it does, it does this superlatively. Should you wear the Cat’s Eye Day & Night watch out one evening, the stars in the sky might not be the ones that shine the brightest.