Girard Perregaux Gyromatic In Stainless Steel Automatic Cal. 47BF 620

Girard Perregaux has always been one of the true, historic Swiss manufactures, but in the 1950s, they were also fierce innovators. While their competitors were building increasingly complex automatic winding systems, GP introduced the “Gyromatic”, a wildly clever, simple, and robust system that would become their signature for decades.

Launched in 1957, the Gyromatic was a brilliant piece of engineering. Instead of the complex reversing gears used by Rolex, it used a unidirectional rotor with a system of “Gyrotron” click-wheels. This mechanism was more efficient, easier to service, and incredibly durable. The Caliber 47 series, like the 47BF 620 found in this very watch, was one of the first to feature this groundbreaking technology, putting GP right at the forefront of the mid-century automatic wars.

This particular example, a Reference 6678, is just dripping with 1950s charm. The stainless steel case is sharp and honest, but the dial is the real story. It features a fantastic and uncommon layout with applied Arabic numerals for the even hours and sharp, faceted arrowheads in between. This “explorer-style” configuration is highly sought after.