No joke, when my editor told me my next assignment was to write about the Girard-Perregaux x Saint Laurent Casquette release, for a brief moment I thought I was covering some sort of snazzy designer baseball cap (casquette is French for cap) for watch collectors. I know, ridiculous. I eventually came to my senses and realized that he was talking about the latest version of the Girard-Perregaux Casquette watch, which as you may know (and I had seemed to have forgotten) was originally produced from 1976 until 1978. It was a digital watch that falls into that wonderfully bizarre genre of “what the future will look like” design, a.k.a. today as retro-futurism. Last year, Girard-Perregaux revived this unconventional piece with its driver-style LED display from the archives and gave us the Casquette 2.0 with an almost identical look but of course, built with modern materials and tech. Now, for 2023, the brand has released the Girard-Perregaux Casquette 2.0 Saint Laurent 01 watch in collaboration with the famed French luxury fashion house.
If you remember the GP Casquette 2.0 from last year, which Ariel covered in-depth with a hands-on review, you’ll notice that this 2023 Saint Laurent collab looks like a carbon copy. We have the same 42.40 x 33.60mm (14.64mm high) asymmetrical boxy case shape with a curved caseback and slanted case top fashioned from black ceramic and grade 5 titanium. There’s also the characteristic tubular LED display with bright red numerals and the black ceramic bracelet with rubber lining underneath. However, Saint Laurent’s Creative Director Anthony Vaccarello’s re-edit of the Casquette 2.0 has added more black details to the already dark watch.
Namely, all the naturally-toned titanium accents of the first Casquette 2.0 have now undergone black PVD treatment. There are the black PVD-treated titanium GP logo and pushers on the case, a black PVD-treated titanium clasp on the bracelet, and a black PVD-treated titanium caseback. The caseback is also doubled signed “SAINT LAURENT” and “GIRARD-PERREGAUX,” along with the watch’s production number out of the entire 100-piece run.
Like the previous model, the functions of the Girard-Perregaux x Saint Laurent Casquette 2.0 include hours, minutes, seconds, day, date, month, year, chronograph, second time zone, and a secret date. In case you’re wondering what’s the secret date all about, you can program a special date (think anniversary, kid’s birthday, or any other milestone moment) to show up at a specific time. It’s also worth mentioning that the watch’s natural state is “standby mode” and you’re required to press the left-side pusher to display the functions — including the time. According to the brand, this is to preserve battery life, and an average of 20 pushes a day translates to about two years of a working battery. Powering the watch is the GP3980-1474 quartz movement.
The limited-edition Girard-Perregaux Casquette 2.0 Saint Laurent 01 watch (ref. 39800-32-3102-6GX) is priced at $6,700 USD and is exclusively available at Saint Laurent Rive Droite stores in Paris and Los Angeles, in addition to official Saint Laurent Rive Droite online stores (in select regions). While the price tag may be on the excessive side for a retro-futurism digital quartz watch and there are several alternatives that cost much less, those who regularly shop at either Saint Laurent or GP will likely not blink an eye. Plus, only 100 pieces will be made, so that kind of exclusivity comes with a price too. Fun (and somewhat related) fact: the one-of-a-kind Girard-Perregaux x Bamford Watch Department Casquette for Only Watch 2021 sold for CHF 80,000. For more information about the Girard-Perregaux Casquette 2.0 Saint Laurent 01 watch, please visit the brand’s website.
