Introducing The Girard-Perregaux Casquette 2.0 x Saint Laurent

Saint Laurent and Girard-Perregaux have joined forces (honestly a phrase I could never have imagined typing) on a new limited release of the Casquette.

Girard-Perregaux is a brand that lays claim to a long and serious history of Swiss watchmaking. The Casquette, albeit not your most conventional-looking timepiece, plays an important role in the GP canon. At one time, Girard Perregaux was an innovator when it came to digital technology. Back in 1971, it made waves with the Caliber GP-350, a quartz movement that set the universal market standard for frequency, which is obviously a pretty big feat.

Then came Caliber 395, a quartz movement that was used inside the original and very small release of the LED display Casquette made between 1976 and 1978. Available in three materials: Makrolon (a black composite material), stainless steel and plated gold, the watch was only produced in a total of 8,200 examples. It told time at the push of a button, in hours and minutes, it displayed day and date with another push, and finally running seconds. It was a successful run upon its original release and became highly sought-after later down the line by retro watch heads.

Last year GP released the Casquette 2.0, with the vastly more efficient GP-03980. Funny to think of "new and improved" quartz-powered LED technology because it feels so dated as a concept, but that's the beauty of the Casquette: it's unashamedly retro.

This new limited release of the 2.0 has been "redesigned" by Saint Laurent Creative Director Anthony Vaccarello for the Saint Laurent Rive Droite line. The watch is black ceramic and black PVD-treated grade 5 titanium with a Saint Laurent signature on the caseback. It displays hours, minutes, seconds, the day and the date, the month, the year, a chronograph, a second time zone, and a secret date.

Anthony Vaccarello has been at the helm of Saint Laurent since 2016. His play on the original Yves Saint Laurent mix of shock factor and Parisian sophistication can be seen through his borderline erotic but always elegantly silhouetted womenswear, as well as his androgynous menswear. Vaccarello is a designer who appreciates starkly graphic lines: huge dramatic shoulders, tighter than tight pencil skirts and chunky black and metallic oversized jewelry.

While this watch is certainly architecturally striking, with its sleek lines and cool black exterior, I personally find it challenging to understand how it fits into the overtly glamorous and sexy Vaccarello for Saint Laurent worldview.

The watch actually comes under the umbrella of Rive Droite – a line of objects that are sold exclusively in two stores located in Paris and LA (and online). A play on the original Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche concept which was launched in 1966 as a kind of middle finger to the stuffy fashion houses situated on the more traditional upscale shopping destination of the right bank. Yves Saint Laurent's mission was to expand his offering and democratize fashion with a ready-to-wear line of mass-produced clothing. With Rive Droite we see Vaccarello doing the inverse geographically, but keeping the same democratic philosophy with an expansion into objects and ideas set away from the nucleus of his ready-to-wear fashion. The mix of books, art, accessories, and small objects are framed as an open invitation to a broader audience.

Maybe this release has something to do with GP having once been a part of the Kering Group that Saint Laurent still falls under or maybe Anthony Vaccarello is a fan of retro timepieces? Whatever the reason for this unusual collaboration, the Casquette is a supremely chic piece of design made even more chic by the fashion house that everybody associates with Parisian style. It's easy to imagine this watch on the wrist of somebody who pays close attention to fashion and design. I like to imagine this person always wears black sunglasses and turtleneck sweaters and lives in a large starkly furnished loft apartment with a Corbusier chaise lounge, floor-to-ceiling bookshelves and a strategically placed Raymond Pettibon illustration in their entryway. 

The Casquette is not a watch for the traditionalist nor for the faint of heart. However design-led this watch may be, it's still a big hunk of black ceramic that resembles some sort of intergalactic paging device. And while I'm not entirely sure just how much "redesigning" was actually involved in this release, I am excited to see a coming together of these two worlds.

Brand: Girard-Perregaux
Model: Casquette 2.0 Saint Laurent 01
Reference Number: 39800-32-3102-6GX

Diameter: 42.40mm x 33.60mm
Thickness: 14.64mm
Case Material: Black ceramic with black PVD-treated titanium GP logo and pushers
Dial: Tubular LED display
Water Resistance: 50m
Strap/Bracelet: Black ceramic with rubber interior, folding buckle with micro adjustment system

Caliber: GP3980-1474 (Quartz)
Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds, day, date, month, year, chronograph, 2nd time zone, secret date
Diameter: 26.24mm x 27.60 mm
Thickness: 6.40 mm
Frequency: 32,768 Hz

Price: $6,700
Availability: Available exclusively at Saint Laurent Rive Droite stores in Paris and Los Angeles, as well as online via the official Saint Laurent Rive Droite store, in selected countries only.
Limited Edition: Limited release of 100

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