Girard-Perregaux Constant Escapement L.M.

Today we start with a new phenomenon here on Monochrome, and we call it MonoTube. A daily video about watches, about the industry, about a brand or… well, it’s watch related, that is for sure. Not much talk, just a cool video.

The first video is about the watch that won the Aiguille d’Or at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève and that we (all writers of Monochrome voted for Monochrome’s top 10 selection of 2013)at Monochrome selected as the best watch of 2013. It is of course Girard-Perregaux’s Constant Escapement L.M.

We were the first to break the story of a 2013 Constant Escapement watch (see here) as well as share an interview with the creator Nicolas Déhon (see here), but the challenge remains of readers seeing the escapement in all its glory.  After some preliminary reading of the above linked articles, watching this video enhances understanding by seeing the Constant Escapement in motion.  As they say, “a picture (or video) is worth a thousand words.”

At the  Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève, Girard-Perregaux’s Constant Escapement L.M. won first prize, taking home the coveted Aiguille d’Or (“golden hand”) prize, which is awarded for the year’s best overall watch.  Kinda like winning the World Cup.  The creator of the award, Roger Pfund, took his inspiration from the Sistine Chapel whose fresco depicts Adam’s hand reaching out to God.  Whether or not the Constant Escapement was divinely inspired, we cannot say, but we can say that there is nothing else like it.  Truly, it is the watch of 2013.