Consumers are increasingly presented with items that are co-branded, collaborations between usually two but sometimes up to four, different parties.

A couple of years ago, had you told me that Girard-Perregaux would partner up with Château Latour, the first thought that would have come to my mind would have been that it was in line with some ‘within-group’ collaborative products that have appeared in recent years involving brands that are part of the same luxury group but with no obvious overlap in actual product lines.

There is no longer the direct François Pinault ownership connection, as Girard-Perregaux is no longer part of Kering, but Pinault’s Groupe Artémis S.A owns Château Latour. The personal connection is still present, with Patrick Pruniaux obviously having been part of Girard-Perregaux during the tail end of its Kering era.

Meet the new 1966 Château Latour, a limited edition addition to the 1966 collection which will allow you to have a literal part of the terroir of the Médoc on your wrist. For those with long memories, or if you were a kid of the 1980s, it’s like a certain old ‘Rock Watch’, only amped up.

The dials of this new watch are made from pebbles from Château Latour’s vineyard. Rather than taking Tissot’s approach, the pebbles chosen are all of a similar pale colour, but because of the material used, each dial is different. It takes thirty hours to create each dial, which is 0.45mm thick.

Surrounding this is a pink gold 40mm case with a thickness of 9.4mm and water resistance of 30m. On the sapphire of the open case back is the Château Latour logo. Beneath it is the automatic Calibre GP03300 which beats at 28,000 VPH and has a power reserve of 46 hours. Its oscillating weight is pink gold and finishing includes circular graining, Côtes de Genève, mirror-polishing, snailing, and satin and  sunray finishing.

The Girard-Perregaux 1966 Château Latour Edition is a limited edition of eighteen numbered pieces and has a price of EUR 39,800. There is one catch – it will be available exclusively to private guests of the Château Latour estate and Villa Girard-Perregaux.

[Photo credit: Girard-Perregaux]

Categories: Girard Perregaux, Limited Editions, Watch Profile, watches