Did Girard-Perregaux Just Bring Back A Quartz Watch From The '70s?
You're not seeing things. The Swiss watchmaker has revived the Casquette, a cult classic produced during the quartz crisis of the '70s.
Ah, the '70s. It was the glorious age of punk, Star Wars, Charlie's Angels, Saturday Night Fever, Atari, platform shoes and more.
But for the luxury watch business, it was an existential moment brought about by the quartz crisis that saw more commercial battery-powered timepieces from Japan flooding the marketplace.
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For Swiss watchmaker Girard-Perregaux (GP), its answer to this watershed moment was equal parts business acumen and equal parts design genius. Between 1976 and 1978 it produced 8,200 pieces of quartz watches that had earned the nickname the Casquette (literally "cap" in French).
Like the original Casquette, the Casquette 2.0 comes with a sleek integrated case and bracelet design which was synonymous with watch styles from the '70s.
For obvious reasons, this timepiece earned its moniker for the helmet-like case design which is best described as an LED alarm clock perched on a bracelet though more serious watch fiends would liken the sleek lines of the watch to a '70s muscle car.
During the three years in which the was in production, the Casquette appeared in steel, gold and a type of thermoplastic called Makrolon which was in vogue then.
More than 40 years since its launch, and with resale prices of the Casquette hitting 10 times its original value, it is thus high time that the horology house unveils a redux of the Casquette.
This month, GP announces the launch of Casquette 2.0, a limited-edition release (just 820 pieces) that will appeal to those who collectors and those who appreciate retrofuturistic design.
The interest in the Casquette has never waned. According to Girard-Perregaux, the '70s model can fetching 10 times its original selling price on the pre-owned market.
For now, the timepiece is available for two weeks on GP's e-commerce site before dropping at stockists worldwide from March 7, including The Hour Glass in Singapore where it will retail for $6,500.
While the new edition bears a splitting image to the O.G, there are several modern tweaks given to this timepiece that we are sure will achieve bona fide hypebeast status. Scroll on for a closer look.
Just like the first generation Casquette, the 2.0 version displays the hours, minutes, seconds, day, and date. However, thanks to a new movement – Calibre GP03980 if you want to be technical – the ticker now comes with a month, year, chronograph, and second-time zone function. Our favourite feature: a secret date function that lets you save a memorable date that can be flashed each day at a time specified by you.
View your time on demand to preserve the battery life. In fact, the watch Maison claims that if the user keeps on pressing the pushers on average of 20 times a day, the quartz can last for two years at a go.
Unlike its predecessor which came in steel, gold and plastic, the Casquette 2.0 goes for a more high-tech material in the form of scratch-resistant ceramic for its case and bracelet and a Grade 5 titanium for the caseback. The timepiece also boasts an exceptionally low mass of 107g, making it a comfortable timepiece to wear despite its hefty monolithic appearance.