Girard-Perregaux’s unified theme for the 2019 collection, which it called”From Earth to Sky,” was characterized by the use of a very cosmic-looking combo of black ceramic DLC for its instances along with translucent blue for its polycrystalline dials. One of the standouts (for me, anyhow ) of these stellar new versions hails from the most distinctively retro of the brand’s collections, the Art Deco-influenced Vintage 1945 series.
Girard Perregaux Vintage Earth to Sky – reclining
Girard-Perregaux Vintage 1945 Earth to Sky Edition

The opinion, officially dubbed the Classic 1945 Earth to Sky Edition and essentially a reworking of a 2014 version, the more conventionally named Brown dial Vintage watch 1945 Large Date Moon Phases, is a fascinating amalgamation of an early 20th-century square case and dial design with definitely modern aesthetics and materials. Like its predecessor, it hosts a rare combination of a outsized date screen, in a single rectangular window at 12 o’clock, and a moon-phase index, overlapped by a tiny seconds hand, in a circular aperture at 6 o’clock. The Earth to Sky Edition also reproduces the first model’s”smoked” tinted sapphire crystal providing an elegantly shrouded perspective of the mechanisms inside, including the gears, wheels, and discs which drive the two featured complications. Here, or course, the smoked effect is in blue in contrast to the original grey.
The dial is made from translucent blue sapphire.

The big date display utilizes two discs, among sapphire, just .1mm apart.
Like many big dates, this one puts the digits on two different discs, but uses an advanced design to minimize the”two level effect” which may detract from the visual harmony of such displays. 1 disc is created from clear sapphire, and placed just.1 mm above the other disk, creating a nearly imperceptible difference in height, with the discs appearing to be basically on precisely the exact same level. After a date change is triggered, it takes only five milliseconds to your disks to maneuver into position. The moon-phase display is co-axial using the tiny seconds, and it uses a translucent sapphire”double bubble” plate which reveals the mechanism under. The Art Deco hour numerals, indices, and Dauphine hour and second hands are treated with a textured black PVD treatment that contrasts nicely, at least in fairly bright light conditions, with all the blue dial and the shaded elements behind it; in dimmer conditions, the time could be somewhat more challenging to discern at a glance, as the watch, in keeping with its own ancestor, does not have any luminous treatment on any of its elements.
Girard Perregaux Vintage Earth to Sky – Case – Pusher
The black DLC titanium case includes a pusher for fast adjustment of this date.
Girard-Perregaux Vintage 1945 Earth to Sky – Hands
The DLC-coated Dauphine hands suit the case.

Girard-Perregaux Vintage 1945 Earth to Sky – Moonphase
The moon-phase indicator shares a subdial with the small seconds.
The Vintage 1945 case is, of course, based on those of historical Girard-Perregaux watches in the year it references, and remains among my favorites at the Swiss manufacturer’s portfolio. Rectangular in shape, but improved for elegance and comfort by chemical curves which extend from top to bottom and from side to side, make this instance not only period-appropriate in 36.10 mm with 35.25 mm in size, but ergonomically perfect for relaxation on the wrist. If one gets past the visual incongruity of distinctly contemporary black DLC on a very retro-looking circumstance, as I did fast, an individual will probably learn how to enjoy the aesthetic boldness employed here.

The rotor is graced with côtes de Genève along with a gold Girard-Perregaux emblem.
The circular movement, Girard-Perregaux’s self-winding Caliber GP03300-0105, isn’t built to the situation’s measurements — these shaped motions continue to be exceedingly rare — but it is, as per Girard-Perregaux heritage, both meticulously engineered and decorated into the upper echelon of haute horlogerie standards. Available through the round window in the Vintage 1945’s caseback’s caseback, the motion consists of 282 components, such as 32 stones, oscillates at a brisk 28,800 vph, also stores a minimum power reserve of 46 hours. The scenario, that despite the previously discussed retro contour maintains a respectable water resistance of 30 meters, is mounted onto a blue rubber-coated alligator strap that secures the timepiece to the wrist using a dark DLC-coated steel folding buckle.