What better tribute than to mark 225 years of history with so many unique watches? The Girard-Perregaux Manufacture is marking this special year with “Girard-Perregaux Place Girardet”, a unique and exceptional collection. Each of the models’ dials is distinguished by an original combination of decorations. And, for the first time, the Manufacture’s emblematic Pont d’or rises above a Microvar balance.
Thanks to a new Manufacture automatic caliber, the opening beneath the Pont d’or now reveals the Microvar variable inertia balance. Each of the dials in this vintage collection reveals a gold plate, engraved with a year between 1791 and 2016. A quotation in the center of the piece recalls a significant event linked to the date, starting with the founding of Girard-Perregaux in 1791. The Manufacture further refines the personalization of the watches in the series, with different dial styles, indexes, minute scales and decorations: barley grain guilloché or peacock background, satin-finished or sand-blasted.
The strength of an integrated manufacture
Girard-Perregaux’s origins date back to 1791, when Jean-François Bautte produced his first timepieces. A rarity at the time, this configuration still distinguishes Girard-Perregaux today, allowing perfect mastery of every stage in the creation of a watch, with extreme care invested right down to the final finishing touches.
Girard-Perregaux’s independence gives it total freedom to innovate. The proof is in the more than 80 patents it has registered. The “Girard-Perregaux Place Girardet” series retraces the memorable moments of this extraordinary history. For example: as early as 1889, Girard-Perregaux won a gold medal at the Paris Universal Exhibition for its Tourbillon sous trois Ponts d’or. Then, in 1966, the company presented the Gyromatic Hf de 1966, the first high-frequency movement with 36,000 vibrations per hour. In 2008, the Manufacture unveiled another revolutionary innovation, the “Constant Escapement”,
a constant-force escapement designed according to the physical principle of buckling never before applied to watchmaking.
More recently, in 2009, Girard-Perregaux presented its new variable-inertia balance, the Microvar, integrated this year into the movement of the “Girard-Perregaux Place Girardet” series. At the heart of a watch, the balance wheel divides the movement’s energy into equal portions – the famous tick-tock. An exclusive development, the Microvar balance wheel features six screws and two inertia weights, positioned on the serge of the balance wheel. Over the past 225 years, Girard-Perre- gaux’s watchmaking innovations have succeeded one another in all areas of time measurement: design, com- plications and chronometry.
UniQUE dials
The face of the models in the collection features the Manufacture’s emblematic Pont d’or. Positioned at 6 o’clock, however, it rises for the first time above the oscillations of the Microvar balance. For the dials in the series, Girard-Perregaux alternates between colors, finishes, decorations and types of indexes. Depending on the period, the indexes also adopt a variety of styles.
At 9 o’clock, the gold plate, fixed directly to the movement, appears on the dial through an aperture. In the center, a quotation underlines a major event of the date inscribed: in the history of Girard-Perregaux, in that of watchmaking, but also cultural, scientific or political milestones. For example, the year 1808, with a taupe dial and flamboyant guilloché, celebrates Beethoven’s symphony n°5. Or the quotation on the model dedicated to the year 1963, with a coarse sand-blue dial, relates the voyage of the first woman into space.
Starting with this 225th anniversary, this collection, like future Girard-Per- regaux creations, features a new logo, marked with the year 1791. On each of these unique dials, leaf-shaped hands, , indicate the march of time.
The balance wheel is revealed on the dial side
The sapphire caseback reveals the caliber and its gold oscillating weight, also engraved with Girard-Perregaux’s founding date, 1791. The new GP01800-0005 automatic mechanical caliber is an evolution of the GP01800 Manufacture movement. In this new development, with its totally revised architecture and design, Girard-Perregaux has moved the Microvar variable inertia balance to the dial side, creating an unprecedented animation.
The new GP01800-005 caliber has 194 components. it offers the hours, minutes and central seconds functions. its power reserve ensures 54 hours of operation. The Manufacture’s craftsmen have decorated the movement using traditional techniques: Côtes de Genève and circular graining on the plate and
bridges, and soleillage on the oscillating weight. The movement is engraved with an eagle, the Girard-Perregaux symbol since 1897, and a reference to the special anniversary edition.
In this anniversary year of 2016, the “Girard-Perregaux Place Girardet” collection, the contemporary culmination of over two centuries of watchmaking expertise, pays tribute to both the history of the Manufacture and its craftsmanship since 1791.
The Girard-Perregaux Place Girardet’s rose gold case measures 41 mm in diameter and is just under eleven mil- limeters high. The case and lugs are extended with a black alligator strap, fitted with a folding clasp, also in pink gold. The watch is guaranteed water-resistant to 30 meters.
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