Girard Perregaux

Girard Perregaux is a company of fine watchmaking whose roots date back to 1791. It is located at La Chaux-de-Fonds and is owned by the Sowind Group, a branch of PPR.

In 1791, the watchmaker and goldsmith Jean-François Bautte signs his first watches. He creates in Geneva a manufacturing company regrouping the professions of the watchmaking of the time. In 1852, the watchmaker Constant Girard founds at La Chaux-de-Fonds the Girard & Cie house. He then marries Marie Perregaux and the Girard-Perregaux Campany is born in 1856. In 1906, Constant Girard—Gallet, who succeeded his father at the head of the Company, takes over the Bautte House and merges it with Girard-Perregaux & Cie. Since then, the Brand continued its activities, by reinforcing since the 80s its positioning in the field of prestigious mechanical watches, under the direction of the Macaluso family.

In 2011, Sowind Group, the parent company of Girard-Perregaux becomes a branch of PPR.

The company developed more than 80 patents filed in the watchmaking field and several innovative concepts 

*1880 : Constant Girard develops a concept of wristwatches intended for the officers of the German navy and ordered by the emperor Wilheim 1st of Germany. Two thousands watches are produced, which represents the first important commercialization of wristwatches

*1965 : Girard-Perregaux conceives the first high frequency mechanical movement, whose balance wheel beats at 36000 vibrations/hour: the Gyromatic HF.

1970 : Girard-Perregaux presents the first watch in the world to be equipped with a movement whose quartz vibrates at 32768 hertz, a frequency today universally taken over by the manufacturers.

2008 : The brand presents at the SIHH (International Salon of Fine watchmaking) a constant-force escapement totally different from the escapements known until now.

Gérard-Perregaux is relying on a Manufacture of movements and of watches and a Manufacure of casings and bracelets which regroup dozens of different skills: watchmaker, engineer, decorator of movements, polisher, etc. This global approach allows both to create and to make the watches and the movements.

The Girard-Perregaux Manufacure conceives and develops its own movements.

-A large collection of Fine Watchmaking movements, including the Tourbillon under three gold bridges which is the emblematic pieces.

-A complete range of mechanical movements with automatic winding (GP2700 – GP3200, GP3300, GP4500) which can equip all the types of watches, while serving of base for modular constructions of mechanisms with complications.

Quartz movements

The Tourbillon under three gold bridges is the emblematic model of Girard-Perregaux.

Besides the collection of Fine Watchmaking, the most well-known collections of Girard-Perregaux are: Vintage 1945 (with a rectangular casing and a design inspired by an Art Déco style watch dating back to 1945), ww.tc for worldwide time control, this collection displays the 24 time zones on the dial, Girard-Perregaux 1966, Laureato Evo 3, Cat’s eye (a feminine line).