Hands-On With The New Girard-Perregaux Deep Diver Legacy Edition
Admittedly, I didn’t have a retro diver from Girard-Perrergaux on my list of predictions for 2025. Yet, just a month ago, I visited our site, and a bright blue and orange watch was beaming back at me. The Deep Diver Legacy Edition proves that the Swiss brand can still get funky, even if that means partnering with London-based Bamford to help make it happen. Today, we’ll take a hands-on look at this twin-crowned, limited-edition piece and share our thoughts.
Girard-Perregaux is one of those brands that will always stick with me. My dad purchased a lovely, very ’70s High-Frequency model during my parents’ honeymoon. Actually, there’s more than a kissing cousin’s worth of shared DNA in his watch and today’s Deep Diver. In any case, I like the company’s current offerings, but I’m always up for something different to provide an additional spark to the lineup. Let’s see if this throwback hits the mark.
The Girard-Perregaux Deep Diver Legacy Edition
Before we move on to the impressions, let’s do a quick run-down of the specs. The watch has a 38mm by 40.3mm Grade 5 titanium case with sharp edges and a mix of brushed and polished surfaces. Size-wise, it’s very much on trend with the 1969 original.
While the watch is quite squat, it has a reasonable 13.91mm thickness. Naturally, it uses a sapphire crystal. For those who may consider using this as a proper dive watch, it offers a 200m depth rating. Fittingly, a blue natural rubber strap and titanium tang buckle come with this diver. Girard-Perregaux also includes an orange strap with an additional titanium buckle.
The automatic GP03300 works away inside
The Deep Diver has a neat party trick in store with its blue sapphire lens within its chunky titanium screw-in case back. At an angle, it reminds us of the original version, complete with the model name and trident. Yet, it still allows for a slight view of the automatic GP03300 caliber underneath. This movement beats at 28,800vph and has 46 hours of power reserve. While it’s difficult to see, the in-house GP03300 also has Côtes de Genève finishing, anglage, polishing, and snailing.
A bright, funky dial
The dial on the Deep Diver is most definitely this watch’s calling card. It’s bright and even rather unique among a throng of available orange divers. The angled, roulette wheel-like inner rotating bezel creates an imposing look with a strong retro feel. An inner white track contains myriad details, including navy-blue trapezoids, printed luminous orange hour markers, and blue minute lines. A traditional date window at 3 o’clock has a blue-on-white date wheel and a beveled orange frame. That last detail is an extension of the orange central portion. Aside from the Girard-Perregaux name in a decidedly throwback font, a shadowy reminder of Bamford’s contribution is also on display.
The Deep Diver contains an interesting handset. Its brushed shapes are on point with the original, but they now contain orange-tinted Super-LumiNova. We received some questions on our initial article about whether the hands are visible enough against the orange dial. They are, but there’s certainly a slight sacrifice in legibility to the fashion gods. The brushed metal helps draw the eyes to the hands, with the longer minute hand qualifying as the more eye-catching detail. Of course, that’s a good thing considering that this is a dive watch.
In the dark, the Deep Diver puts on a light show. All the wild colors give way to a soft greenish-blue glow from the applied Super-LumiNova. Of note is the bold double line of lume on the bezel to indicate the start time of a dive. Its design ensures that it isn’t confused with the hour indexes.
On the wrist
The Deep Diver is a funny watch. Its dimensions make it sound small, but it wears large. The nugget-like design and twin crowns add mass, but the lack of outer bezel contributes most heavily to this watch’s larger looks. That said, someone with a small wrist can wear it. A watch that comes to mind with a somewhat similar case design is the Aquastar Benthos H2.
The difference and improvement here, for some, is the lightweight titanium construction. It works nicely for a watch of this style and helps the overall balance while on the wrist. Similarly, the flexible rubber strap makes it feel, at times, as if nothing is on.
The elephant in the room
Girard-Perregaux is making just 350 of the Deep Diver Legacy Edition and has priced it at €16,000 / £12,900 / US$15,100. This makes it quite expensive and puts it in league with some big hitters within the dive-watch genre. I think most would accept the watch gladly if the price were closer to the €10,000 mark. Plus, the bezel-setting crown at 2 o’clock and the screw-down time-setting crown at 4 contain cross-hatched engravings. Those who know vintage watches will instantly recognize these as a signature of EPSA Super Compressor cases. So, what’s the problem? The Deep Diver isn’t a Super Compressor.
Final thoughts on the Deep Diver
Overall, the Deep Diver is a very cool-looking watch with a distinctive dial design courtesy of Bamford. Plus, the titanium case is beautifully finished with its strong angles and mix of surfaces. Perhaps the best way to look at it is as a limited-production niche product. On that basis, I can imagine that it will prove successful and find favor with 350 collectors. Let’s hope that Girard-Perregaux expands the lineup with additional references in titanium and steel.
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