When Girard-Perregaux won the chronometry prize at the Neuchâtel Observatory in 1966, it would still be three years before mankind would set foot on the moon. Nevertheless, the introduction of the 1966 Blue Moon, the newest addition to the manufacture’s vintage-inspired 1966 collection, in this, the 50th anniversary year of the 1969 moon landing, seems apt indeed. Here is a closer look at the new model.
Girard-Perregaux 1966 Blue Moon
The watch continues the “From Earth to Sky” theme that Girard-Perregaux has established as the unifying element for its 2019 collection, which encompasses not only an entirely new family, the Laureato Absolute (covered in detail here), but also newly reimagined versions of existing models, like the Vintage 1945 Earth to Sky Edition that I review here. Like all the aforementioned, the 1966 Blue Moon has a case constructed in black DLC-treated microblasted steel and a dark blue dial evocative of the night sky. The round case measures 40 mm in diameter and is water-resistant to 30 meters, with a glareproofed sapphire crystal over the dial. Said dial is subtly curved and features a gradient effect, with the blue center deepening to black at the edges; it is designed in the style of other dials in the 1966 collection, with curved, leaf-shaped hands and thin baton hour markers. What’s new here is the pointer-type date display at 6 o’clock, with a red “31” denoting the end of the month, which surrounds the e...