The origins of the Girard-Perregaux manufacture go back to the year 1791. Jean-François Bautte was a well-known maker of slim pocket watches; 1791 was the year he set up a watch manufacture in Geneva, bringing together all the watchmaking crafts in existence at the time under a single roof. The brand name emerged in 1856, after Constant Girard’s marriage to Marie Perregaux. Today the company is entirely devoted to the creation of exceptional haute horlogerie timepieces, and masters all the skills necessary to make a watch, from initial design to the final finish. Girard-Perregaux holds more than 80 patents, and is committed to ongoing research and development, continuing to forge a unique legacy in modern watchmaking.
The La Chaux-de-Fonds manufacture is celebrating its 225th anniversary with the Girard-Perregaux Place Girardet collection, a series of 225 exceptional and unprecedented pieces. Each of the 225 dials bears a different and unique combination of decorations. In its centre, each one features a small gold plaque engraved with a year between 1791 and 2016. A quotation highlights a major event from the year in question, which could be a significant moment in Girard-Perregaux’s history, or the history of watchmaking, or a major cultural, scientific or political milestone. The 1808 model, for example, celebrates Beethoven’s 5th Symphony. The watch stamped with 1889 pays tribute to Girard-Perregaux’s tourbillon pocket watch with three gold bridges, known as the Esmeralda, which won a gold medal at the Paris Universal Exhibition. The dials of the Girard-Perregaux Place Girardet collection are decorated in a variety of colours and finishes, using different styles of index markers depending on the aesthetic of the year in question.
The 41 mm rose gold case of the Girard-Perregaux Place Girardet contains the GP01800-0005 movement, which was designed and produced specially for the anniversary series. The self-winding mechanical movement provides central hours, minutes and seconds with a 54-hour power reserve. The manufacture’s iconic gold bridge at 6 o’clock soars above a Microvar balance wheel for the first time.
