Жирар-Перрего: История и Мастерство Швейцарских Часов

Swiss watch manufacturer

Girard Perregaux SA (ʒiʁaʁ pɛʁəɡo) is a luxury Swiss watch manufacture with its origins dating back to 1791. In 2022, then owner French luxury group Kering sold its stake in Sowind Group SA, the parent company of Girard Perregaux, via management buyout. Headquartered in La Chaux de Fonds, Switzerland, the company opened the Girard Perregaux Museum near its headquarters in Villa Marguerite in 1999. It is best known for the historic Tourbillon with three gold bridges, which was awarded a gold medal at the 1889 International Exposition in Paris soon after the launch of the watch. Other notable models from the company include the collection 1966, Vintage 1945, and models such as Tri Axial Tourbillon and Laureato, an icon inspired from the 1970s.

In 1791, watchmaker and goldsmith Jean François Bautte signed his first watches. He created a manufacturing company in Geneva, grouping for the first time ever all the watchmaking facets of that time. This included the engineering of the watch all the way to the final hand assembly and hand polishing of each piece.

Since the quartz crisis, the brand has pursued its activities by reinforcing from the 1980s its position in the domain of high quality mechanical watches. Since late 1980s, Girard Perregaux has been a part of the Swiss Sowind Group. In 2011, Sowind Group, the Swiss holding incorporating Girard Perregaux, became a subsidiary of the French luxury group Kering. In 2021, Girard Perregaux partnered with the luxury car manufacturer Aston Martin.

Girard Perregaux relies on being a manufacturer of movements and watches, and a manufacturer of cases and bands. They bring together some tens of different components: watchmakers, engineers, movement decorators, polishers, etc. This global approach, founded on the traditional know how of the watchmaking craftsmanship, allows them to create and direct high quality watches and movements from the assembly stages all the way to the final encasement. 2008: Girard Perregaux presented prototypes of a constant force escapement, distinguishing itself from all the other known escapements to this day. The first watch housing the constant escapement was presented in 2013. 2016: Girard Perregaux re launched its model Laureato, born in the 1970s, in the form of a limited edition of 225 timepieces. In 2017, the Laureato became a full collection.

In 2012, Girard Perregaux introduced a new Girard Perregaux 1966 Full Calendar and a 1966 Chronograph, which has been highlighted as a new grand classic by Girard Perregaux themselves. This Girard Perregaux 1966 is a slightly larger faced model than previously issued by the watchmaker at 42 mm and may be a sign of the changing demands upon watchmakers by the watch enthusiast community.

The Laureato was born in 1975. Its original design featured an integrated bracelet and an octagonal bezel. In the 1980s, the Laureato models mostly featured quartz movements. In 1995, to celebrate the Laureato’s 20th anniversary, the Manufacture decided to relaunch the model, this time equipped with a calibre GP3100 automatic movement, with three hands and a date. In 2005, a sportier version of the Laureato, named the Evo3, designating the model’s third major evolution, was presented. In 2016, for the 225th Anniversary of the brand, the Laureato collection returned to centre stage thanks to a re design of its lines, aimed to be as close as possible to its original features: octagonal bezel and fully integrated bracelet were back. However, the movement fitted into the steel case was not a quartz, but a GP3300 movement. Since 2017, new models combining different case materials, such as pink gold, titanium, steel and ceramic, along with blue, black or silver hobnail pattern ("Clou de Paris") dial have joined the Laureato collection. The latest addition is a sapphire case model, presented in 2020, the Laureato Absolute Light.