Girard-Perregaux

Tourbillon with Three Gold Bridges

I remember being shown the Girard Perregaux Three Gold Bridges tourbillon wristwatch for the first time vividly. It was about a decade ago in a retailer and my expectations for this model were extremely high. I had heard and read about it, and wanted the classic piece to be perfect in every way. I had great respect for its historical impact. (Esmeralda is certainly the most famous 3 gold bridges pocket watch tourbillon). Between the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century, this piece was owned by the General Diaz from Mexico. GP bought it back from the Diaz family (his grand grand son) in 1973. 24 pieces of Triple gold bridges pocket watch tourbillon have been produced and checked at the Observatory of Neuchâtel between 1865 and 1890) As expected, I was really impressed by the 3 parallel gold bridges layout of this 1991 manual wind Ref . 9900 Tourbillon. However, like most GP watches of the time, the movement plate's decoration was a little disappointing for such a significant piece. It was a minor flaw, but it stood out in my eyes, and I felt pretty hurt. In the year 1981, the same year GP first reproduced twenty replicas of the famous Triple Bridges Tourbillon pocket watch, my father gave me my first expensive watch, a Rolex Oyster Perpetual that I loved. I was very proud of it. I wore the watch all the time and everywhere, no matter how inappropriate the occasion. But it wasn't long before I realized I was mistaken in believing it to be the best watch in the world. This watch I still have. Since then, I have learned and still am learning about the artistry and technicality of the time piece. I have retained this passion that all watch enthusiasts share. It was my fervor, the one that any watch enthusiast can relate to, that made me sad over the Calibre 9900's minor imperfection. We demand the near- impossible. The history of the Girard Perregaux Company can be traced back to Jean Francois Bautte's (1771 - 1837) first timepiece in 1791. The name Girard Perregaux came about from the combination of the names of the famous watchmaker Constant Girard-Gallet (1825 - 1903) and his wife, Marie Perregaux. Their son, Constant Girard-Gallet took over the famous Neuchatel company "J Rossel Fils ~ formerly the Bautte Company" of Juan Hecht's in 1906 and merged with Girard-Perregaux et Cie, which he owned. This company was the successor of "Girard et Cie founded by Constant and his brother Numa Girard in 1852. Mr. L.A. Breguet first registered the patent for the "Tourbillon" regulator mechanism in 26th. June 1801. The invention consisted of mounting the escapement on a mobile carriage which revolved on itself in a given period of time, usually of one or more minutes. Positional errors due to gravitational pull were thus reproduced regularly and cancelled one another out. The tourbillon invention swept the high end watch-making world like a "whirlwind". And yet due to its complex mechanism, only a handful of Tourbillons were made in the first 50 years following the invention. Constant Girard himself was fascinated with the complication and quite determined to produce a special piece for Girard Perregaux in his lifetime. Constant and his team of skilled watchmakers sought the help of another talented watchmaker, Ernest Guinand, (1807 - 1879) to study the possibility. It took them years, but the Constant Girard team created the famous Triple Bridges design and the layout of the movement from scratch, based on the tourbillon cage made by Ernest Guinand, one of the most famous and gifted watchmakers in Le Locle at that time. If not immediately obvious, the exceptional beauty of the 3 parallel arrowed shaped bridges was invented for perfectly functional reasons. Each of the 3 bridges secured the spring barrel, the drive train and the all- important tourbillon cage. This amazing technical achievement was realised at a time when there was no microscope, Computer CAD, calculator or artificial lighting! One way to understand this exceptional watch is to refer to the most authoritative book on the subject, the excellent "Das Tourbillon", authored by Reinhard Meis. The respected Meis categorised Tourbillons into 5 major categories: Type 1, the older form pre- 1860, still key-wound with fusee and chain and used by a number of independent watchmakers. Type 2 has 3 parallel straight bridges and Type 3 has 3 arrow-shaped bridges and both are categories attributed to Girard-Perregaux. Type 4 and 5 are quite similar in architecture and are used by most of the current brands. This includes tourbillon calibres supplied by Lemania, Renaud et Papi and a very small handful of manufacturers etc. It means that the GP tourbillon has attained a sole position in a class of its own. One of the most important reasons is that the functional Triple Bridges has become a distinctive and strong element of the watch design! Constant Girard did not create just a Tourbillon, but went much further than anybody else in terms of technicality, aesthetics and its popularly perceived symbolism of the Holy Trinity The technical integrity of the watch was also enhanced by a complex detent escapement based on original idea invented by Pierre le Roy in 1765 (although commonly attributed to Thomas Earnshaw and perhaps John Harrison but eventually patented by John Arnold). Eventually, the GP Triple Gold Bridges was significant enough to be patented as a GP invention in March 1884. (This original patent was applied on December 13, 1883 and granted on 25th. March 1884) To the best of current knowledge, only 24 pieces of the GP Triple Gold Bridges pocket watches were made between 1865 and 1890 and they won a series of awards including the highest of all awards, gold medals for excellence in the Paris World Exhibition in 1867 and 1889 and the prestigious Neuchatel Observatory prize in 1911. The watch was even rejected from several competitions because it was considered too perfect, probably due to an old practice to prevent the same watch from winning repeatedly. More significantly, the success of GP Triple Bridges Tourbillon probably inspired Patek Phillippe, Vacheron Constantin and Jaeger-LeCoultre to produce a series of Tourbillons between 1918 and 1954. Other than being a significant supplier of mechanical movements to the industry (in fact, some GP collectors complained about the GP movements supplied to other brands, for making some calibers appearing less exclusive than they were), one little known fact is that GP is also the pioneer of Quartz movements. In the late 1960's, GP was one of the few manufacturers with a separate R&D team. This in-house research allowed GP to introduce and manufacture the first Swiss- designed Quartz watches in 1970. The movement came with a GP determined frequency of 32,768 Hz and it quickly became the undisputed international Quartz standard. By 1973 GP had introduced the first Quartz watch with Light-emitting Diode (LED) and has become a significant Swiss supplier of Quartz movements and OEM watches to other famous brands. Everyone knew by then that the future of wristwatch was the Quartz (In terms of number of watches, most of the 1.5 billion watches presently made are still Quartz) AND GP quickly realized that unlike mechanical watches, Quartz watches can be easily mass produced by machines by almost everyone with few business entry barriers. Seiko proved that the Japanese could produce more efficiently and at a lower cost. The rest is history. At a time when many Swiss watchmakers hung up their coats, dumped their tools and sold their remaining mechanical movements in bags for pennies, Girard Perregaux decided to take up the challenge by returning to the past and reverting to the GP origin. GP knew they needed to prove to the world that they were still as capable as the Constant Girard team and set their mind to re-make the most beautiful mechanical pocket watch ever. GP had none of the original discarded tools and no archived drawing of the original Triple Bridges survived. The reproduction took years of painstaking reverse engineering. Measurements were taken from the disassembled original and much knowledge learned from the past masters as complex technical problems are taken to task and solved one by one. After 1500 hours of painstaking work by the team, the Triple Bridges Tourbillon was re-launched in 1981! Andre Curtit, expert and curator of the International watch museum of la Chaux-de-Fonds: claimed that "this pocket watch is the most beautiful piece of watchmaking work I have seen in my entire career. You (GP) have done better than your grandparents". (1991 - First wristwatch 3 gold bridges tourbillon produced in 1991. At that time, the barrel and the platine were not engraved as it is now. The bridges were larger. The movement was based on the pocket watch tourbillon but some parts were modified and construction. The pocket watch tourbillon requeired 1500 hours of work. Only 150 hours are necessary for this movement) The pocket watch set a clear direction and paved the correct way ahead. While GP impressed the critics, they knew that pocket watches are still marginal and niche products. The company was ready for a bigger challenge. To miniaturise the pocket watch into a GP wristwatch which could be worn daily and exclusively by appreciative collectors. The GP R&D Department started prototype work from 1986. The aim was to miniaturise and to simplify the original pocket watch, to make it possible for GP to manufacture the most attractive complication ever in at least commercially viable quantities. After almost 5 years of continuous hard work and gut wrenching brain storming, GP managed to decrease the watch diameter significantly from 45mm to 28.6mm, suitable for most collectors at that time. Some major modifications to the 1981 movements were made in order to squeeze the same mechanism and layout into the much smaller case. Firstly the detent escapement was replaced by the lever escapement. Secondly, the whole movement was inverted from the original design. The Triple Bridges, originally visible from the case-back is now turned to the front to replace the dial. This is the reason why the minute hand of the watch is beneath the hour hand, unlike any other watch. (3 gold bridges hand winding, skeleton tourbillon launched in 1995. Compared to the first toubillon launched in 1991 ~see the 1991 photo~ the bridges are thinner. All the parts as well as the bridges are hand skeleted) To accommodate the smaller case, the shape of the bridges and carriage was also modified. The end result is an elegant wristwatch much simpler. It takes only 150 work hours (generally equivalent to about one calendar month) to produce. The Tourbillon number 1, with reference 9900, was presented during the Basle Fair 1991 to commemorate GP's Centennial. The impact on the media and the watch industry was intense and immediate. The subsequent huge commercial success meant that the Triple Bridges would remain the main engine of GP's drive into the haute horlogerie segment. (Lady Triple Bridge Gold Tourbillon, Small Elegant tourbillon launched in 1998. the same movement as in the men's version was used. Only the platine is smaller as well as the length of the bridges. The barrel is keeping the same size) By early 1999, several minor variations of the Triple Bridges were introduced and many began to feel that it was perhaps impossible to further improve the almost perfect Calibre 9900. In the same year, GP unveiled the amazing automatic wind patented calibre 9600 Triple Bridges without making major changes to the basic look of the watch. A real stroke of genius was for GP to use the space available on the plate below and around the small barrel to install an ingeniously efficient platinum rotor. While many questioned the winding efficiency of micro-rotors, this carefully constructed super mini rotor has been proven reliable and provides an impressive 48 hours of power reserve. A windowed view of the charming looking rotor in 2003's openworked version of this watch is truly a sight to behold! In 2002, The capitalize on the market strength of GP Vintage, the Triple Gold Bridges Automatic Tourbillon in Vintage case was released. The movement used is the same calibre 9600 but now in rectangular Vintage shape. The initial Vintage concept was to annually present a limited series of watches of design inspired by a product GP made in 1994, also a replica of a GP watch first made in 1944. This basic model was voted as Best watch of the Year for 1996 in Japan. (Vintage original - Model from 1945 used to create the version launched in 1995) Due to exceptional demands for GP Vintage by retailers worldwide, different models of Vintage complications, including Chronograph, moonphase, big date and perpetual calendar were integrated into regular production Vintage range of models.Vintage is one of the most important models in the company in terms of sales and it is not coincidental that a Vintage Triple Bridges Tourbillon was introduced. (Vintage 1994 as the "Watch of the Year 1995" in Japan in 1995. Elected by the journalists, the press and the retailers) Today, due to overwhelming demand, the delivery and production of GP Tourbillons have consistently fallen behind consumer demand. Interested clients have to be very patient in order to receive one of the many versions of Triple Bridges Tourbillons developed over the years. (It is a vintage model based on a watch from 1944 shown in our Museum. In 1994 in limited edition in the 3 different gold colours (yellow, pink, white) Hand wound movement. The same as the one used in 1944 version) Production of GP Tourbillons has increased from the original 30 pieces in 1991 to about 100 units today. The number of people working in the High Complication department is now 17 instead of the original 2. (Prize of Best watch of the year received in Switzerland in 2001 for the Vintage 1945 Big Date & Moon Phase) In the year 2000, I was deeply and pleasantly shocked when I was shown the 1999 Automatic Calibre 9600 Triple Golden Bridges Tourbillon. It was the first time that something I so hoped to be done well was, indeed, well done. All the plates and bridges were finished and decorated close to perfection. Elaborate anglage work gave the golden bridges the luster it deserved. It was stunning, flawless in many ways. As the Bridges shone, I felt content and fulfillment. I am pleased to say that this memory is much clearer in my mind. The Triple Golden Bridges Tourbillon, in my opinion, is a rare work of art. It is more than the sum of the efforts put in by Constant Girard and his later generations of watchmakers. I am happy to state that it is perhaps a rare and magical combination of skills, ingenuity, crafts and beauty which made it possible for selected few to enjoy. Ng Tjeng Jaw is the moderator of Jaeger-LeCoultre Forum & Contributor to www.ThePuristS.com   Jaw     Girard-Perregaux Forum  |  ThePuristS.com Home Page We welcome comments, suggestions, and corrections.   Copyright January 2004 - Jaw and ThePuristS.com - all rights reserved