2013/03/28

*Girard-Prregaux "Traveller Collection"

Girard-Perregaux the new Traveller WW.TC

 

The Traveller ww.tc is a worthy successor to its forbearers. A traveling watch for excellence, it gives a new face to world time, recalling all Girard-Perregaux’s expertise in world time watches.

World time did not appear until the late nineteenth century, thanks to the initiative of the Canadian engineer Sandford Fleming. Before that, each city had its own time based on observation of the sun. In the United States, there were no less than 115 official local times. In 1870 Fleming devised a worldwide system that divided the world into 24 time zones, a system progressively adopted by the whole world following a congress held in Philadelphia in 1876. It would be 1911 before the last country, France, joined up. In 1935 the Genevan watchmaker Louis Cottier made history with a watch indicating the time in the 24 time zones.

Made up of 34 elements, the case of the Traveller ww.tc combines engineering prowess with aesthetics. Its finishes, some polished and some satin brushed, are carefully designed to show off its forms. This steel housing contains the selfwinding movement, the Manufacture caliber GP03300, composed of 476 parts which apart from the hour and the minute hands drives a small second hand, world time with day/night indication, a chronograph and a date.

The design of the opaline dial is highly structured; two hands in luminescent material and a clearly visible second hand sweep over. The aesthetic challenge was to show the meridians without affecting the reading of the time. Edged by a beveled ring indicating the cities of the world and by the 24-hour day/night disk, the dial displays the date in an aperture at 2 o’clock. The 30 minutes counter and the small second eye each other at 9 o’clock and 3 o’clock respectively, highlighted by an azure opaline decor. The 12-hour aperture is placed discreetly at 6 o’clock. The time reading is punctuated by the hour marker blocks enhanced with luminescent material.

Behind the mechanical complexity and the plethora of information, using it has been extremely simplified. A big innovation is the single screwed crown at 3 o’clock that regulates all the instrument’s functions. It has three notches to control the time settings- The first position sets the city index, the second sets the date and the third sets the time, the minute and the 24 hour ring. Innovative, original and practical, this system makes the watch comfortable to use in daily wear. The ergonomic design extends to the extremely flexible rubber strap, covered in velvet look alligator leather, and integrated with the case for optimum support.

The timepiece comes with three other dial options: matte black in a steel case, silvered opaline in a titanium case, and silvered opaline with a black ceramic bezel in a steel case.