Use of tinted sapphire in watchmaking has been going on for many years now. Richard Mille and Hublot have given us numerous examples in the past of the use of sapphire. In the last few years, Girard-Perregaux has taken that to whole new level of detail with their timepieces.
Girard –Perregaux debuted Quasar watch back in 2019 which was the first to have a case made entirely from sapphire. Then the Swiss watchmaker introduced the Quasar Light at the starting of this year, and it too had sapphire supporting the tourbillion. Now, the Quasar Azure tourbillon tops the charts for eye-popping looks, yet again.
Quasar Azure mastered with haute horology
The watch has a translucent 46mm case which is crafted out of a single blue-tinted sapphire block. To achieve this Girard Perregaux used a painstaking process of milling, coloring and polishing which is only achievable after 200 hours of effort. That results in a uniformly shaded timepiece with the details trickling down to the lugs and crown.
The box-shaped crystals – both at the front and the back give an unprecedented view of the Caliber GP09400-1035 skeletonized movement. The watch has a three bridge tourbillion cage weighing just 0.25 which is an adaptation from the 19th-century timepieces.
Attention to detail unifying the tourbillon design
Azure comes with an automatic winding movement having a micro-rotor and constructed from white gold, intentionally placed behind the mainspring barrel. This ensures a power reserve of 60 hours. For time indicators, the watch has dauphine hour markers made from white gold and finished with blue luminous material.
To complement the stunning watch, there is a metallic-like anthracite fabric strap. The stitching and triple fold clasp constructed from DLC-coated titanium further highlight the tourbillon. There are only going to be 8 limited edition units made of the timepiece priced at $274,000 each which speaks a lot about the skillful Haute Horlogerie.
