Girard-Perregaux 8867 Deep Diver – An uncommon watch with a common case

If I would say Jaeger-LeCoultre E 857 Deep Sea Alarm, Omega 2913 Seamaster and Favre-Lebua 59603 Deep Blue… Just to name a few…

What do these watches have in common with the Girard-Perregaux 8867 Deep Diver?

They are all divers from the late 1950’s to the the late 1960’s – yes, but there are more common points…

The Girard-Perregaux reference 8867 Deep Diver were in production for T.W.O years, 1966 and 1967.

1966 the 8867 V – 400 pieces and 1967 8867 W – 1000 pieces, in total 1400 reference 8867 V/W were made.

The 8867 were Girard-Perregaux first “modern” diver, earlier versions of the Deep Diver didn’t really have all the features one would expect from a “modern” divers watch of the time.

Griard-Perregaux 8867 Deep Diver – GP’s first “modern” diver

I will return with a deeper report of the watch itself, in this report I like to focus on the case.

So, what is so special about this case?

39 mm in diameter and 19 mm between the lugs. External rotating bezel, enlarged watertight (not screw-down) crown and screw-down case back.

Well, the description applies to all watches mentioned in the start of this post! The two earliest once, the Omega 2913 and the JLC E 857 even share the same case manufacture, HF – Huguenin Fréres.

The later GP 8867 case is made by EPAS – E. Piquerez S.A. and if I am ever able to get my hands on a FL 59603, I bet that the case also is made by EPSA…

Just to point out, the GP 8867 case made by EPSA is not a Super Compressor case. EPSA made other cases as well, but a common misunderstand seems to be that an EPSA case is the same as a Super Compressor case…

Here a couple of comparison shots of the Girard-Perregaux and the Omega. Same lug lengths and lug curves.