Girard-Perregaux

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Girard-Perregaux's Tourbillon sous trois ponts d'or, the quintescance of the tourbillon as a display of mastery in luxury watch-making

Girard-Perregaux (G-P) is a Swiss manufacturer of complex timepieces. The company can trace its origins to 1791 making it one of the older manufactures within the industry. The current name, however, would not appear until 1854 when watchmaker Constant Girard married Marie Perregaux and the modern company was born.

G-P is located in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. G-P is credited with being the first manufacturer of what has become the wristwatch.

G-P is well known within the world of horology for the “Tourbillon Under Three Gold Bridges” or Tourbillon Sous Trois Ponts d'Or. The company can also claim true manufacture status, meaning that it produces the vast majority of the movements used within their timepieces, rather than relying on stock or ébauche parts made by companies such as ETA SA.

In 1965, as a result of extensive research and development, G-P developed a fast 36,000 beat per hour movement, the calibre 32A, as a regular production wristwatch, which G-P then entered into the chronometer accuracy competitions at the Neuchatel Observatory. Of the millions of watches produced in Switzerland each year by all manufacturers in the mid-60's, approximately 250,000 would receive official chronometer status, and only a few hundred of the very best from the total production would be sent to the observatory for chronometer accuracy competitions. These chronometer accuracy competitions preceded the COSC certifications. The observatory chronometer standards, a throwback to marine chronometer times, were many times more difficult than contemporary COSC standards, lasting 45 days and requiring tolerances far higher than COSC. Watch movements that could compete for accuracy certification at the observatory had been specifically built for that purpose alone, they were slow beat movements, at 21,600 bph, with oversized balance wheels, tweaked and prepared by the best watchmakers often for many years to render ultimate accuracy before they were submitted to the observatory. Typical examples of these specialized competition movements were the Peseux cal 260, the Zenith cal 135 and the Omega cal 390. Because of the development time to create and tweak such movements, watch manufacturers tended to enter very few movements at observatory competitions, primarily very specialized movements designed specifically for such competitions and not suitable for actual wristwatch usage. Conversely, the G-P calibre 32A movement was taken from regular series production meant for public consumption. G-P entered the calibre 32A into the Neuchatel Observatory competitions in 1966 and 1967, the final year of the observatory chronometer competitions. The G-P calibre 32A obtained observatory status in 1966 and 1967, receiving Bulletins de Marche from the Observatory for slightly more than 600 movements over the two years. The movements entered into the Observatory competitions were taken directly from serial production. This was unheard-of results. It has been likened to winning an F-1 race with a production car. In 1967, G-P received approximately 70% of all the Bulletins de Marche issued that year. The fast beat movement, calibre 32A, heralded the future of chronometer wristwatch technology. Future movements from such noted manufactures as Patek Philippe (cal 215), Zenith (el Primero), Chopard (cal 1.96) and such, incorporated fast beat movements running at 28,800 bph. In recognition of a momentous achievement, G-P was granted the Centenary Certificate from the Observatory Neuchatel in 1967, the only time any manufacture has ever been awarded such. [[1] [2] [3]

http://www.horomundi.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6879 http://gp.watchprosite.com/show-forumpost/fi-6/pi-1774970/ti-272648/s--6/

External links

• Girard-Perregaux
• Girard Perregaux Watch Index An handy reference index of Girard Perregaux watches, listing by case material, bracelet material, dial colour, thickness, diameter, calibre, and model number.
• History of Girard-Perregaux