The Girard-Perregaux Cosmos, an exuberant celestial/terrestrial tourbillon combo first launched in 2019, is making a farewell appearance in the form of three unique pieces. The final edition will be made in three variations: a black aventurine dial and black aventurine celestial and terrestrial globes with gold micro-painting, a spectrolite dial and black aventurine globes with silver micro-painting and an obsidian dial and onyx globes with gold micro-painting. They will be the last three Cosmos to be produced.
The massive 47mm x 22.2mm Cosmos is a horological showpiece, with four pillars visually balanced on the dial: two side-by-side globes at 3 and 9 o’clock, a tourbillon at 6 o’clock and a slightly concave time dial at 12 o’clock. The globe at 3 o’clock is a scale model of Earth, serving as a rather elaborate day/night indicator as it rotates once every 24 hours—a band across the lower half gives a 24-hour reading. The globe is hand-decorated using silver or gold micro-painting, requiring 14 hours of work.
The globe at 9 o’clock represents the night sky, decorated with the 12 constellations of the zodiac, which is lit by luminescent hydroceramic. It rotates almost imperceptibly once every 23 hours, 58 minutes and 4 seconds to represent sidereal time, calculated according to the position of the stars. The globe can also be seen from the caseback, where the constellations come into full view at midnight. Since you can’t see it rotating, this is a good way to check that it’s on track.
The tourbillon at 6 o’clock is held in a titanium, lyre-shaped carriage that, because it’s made of titanium, requires less energy for its one-minute rotation—the result is a fairly long, 57-hour power reserve. It is held in place by Girard-Perregaux’s Neo bridge, a contemporary interpretation of its signature arrow-shaped bridge. The massive bridge stands out in a dramatic black PVD finish with hand-beveled edges. The main plate is also black PVD. The black hour counter at 12 o’clock comes in pink or white gold with luminated dauphine hands.
All three cases are titanium, and the dial is topped by a sapphire box crystal domed to give a full view of the action on the dial, a shape that Girard-Perregaux says requires four to five times more material than a standard crystal. The straps are black alligator. For the sake of symmetry, GP positioned the crown on the caseback, where four adjustment keys are used for winding, time-setting, adjustment of the sky globe and setting of the terrestrial globe.
All three unique Cosmos will be sold exclusively by The Hour Glass.
Previously published on Robb Report.
