Swiss
The Swiss watchmaking specialist enters the year 2013 with a radically redesigned version of its Girard-Perregaux Sea Hawk “professional” diving watch. Rated for a pretty much impressive water resistance of whole 1000 meters, the refreshed Girard-Perregaux Sea Hawk 1000M watch gives you probably the best possible combination of reliability, build quality and design.
If you compare the new model to the 2011 MY Sea Hawk Pro, you will immediately notice that, while preserving the same easily recognizable shape with the same signature crown guard, the watch now comes in a much more aggressive stainless steel body that replaces the previous flowing lines with sharp angles.
To further emphasize the timekeeper’s ruggedness, GP’s designers changed the original satin finish of the body for a more masculine-looking brushed surface.
The dial of the piece has also undergone certain changes starting from a new mesh grille-styled pattern and finishing the picture with new, more original small second and power reserve indicators at 10 and 6 hours respectively. The date aperture, which is still placed between 1 and 2 o’clock, looks a little bit larger making the rudimentary calendar even more legible.
By the way, while the previous model featured a completely flat dial, this one comes with a concave face, which is nicely accented with raised hour markers of different shapes.
The luminous hour and minute hands remain the same, which is good.
According to official specs, the new Girard-Perregaux Sea Hawk 1000M is powered by the same Caliber GP3300 automatic movement, which is still hidden behind a solid case-back cover that depicts a sea monster entwining a stylized anchor with a trident at its other end. By the way, unlike many other divers in this niche that are powered by stock (or slightly modified to higher specs in the best case scenario) ETA calibers, the Cal. GP3300 that animates this model is actually an in-house job. Although this may slightly complicate the issue if you need to service the piece in a hurry (not much of a problem really considering their good reputation when it comes to reliability and ability to keep time), it is still good to know that your expensive, professional-grade yet dressy diving tool not only looks unique, but also has a relatively rare tiny engine lurking under its solid hood.
There is still no info regarding the gadget’s price, but MSRP of some $10,000 would be a good guess.
See also: Limes Endurance Neptun 2 1000m Diver
Photos: Girard-Perregaux
Girard-Perregaux Sea Hawk 1000M specification
Price: $10,500 (MSRP)
Movement: Automatic, Caliber GP3300 base movement, in-house, Swiss Made
Number of jewels: 27
Movement frequency: 28,800 vph
Power reserve: 46 hours
Functions: Hours, minutes, small seconds, date, power reserve indication
Case material: Stainless steel
Shape: Tonneau
Bezel shape: Round
Case size: 44.00 mm
Dial: Black or Grey, with Mesh pattern
Numerals: Arabic (on the rotating bezel)
Hour markers: Luminous
Hands: Steel, luminous
Water resistance: 1000 meters
Strap: Black rubber strap with steel folding buckle
Crystal: Sapphire
Back: Solid, engraved