From 1791 to the Future: A Girard-Perregaux Watchmaking Experience at the Head Office Workshop

La Chaux-de-Fonds is one of the centers of the Swiss watchmaking industry. A visit to Girard-Perregaux's headquarters, from its museum showcasing its history to its haute horology workshop and R&D department, reveals what has made this long-established company a "manufacture." It's not simply about being able to develop and manufacture movements in-house. It's about the ability to constantly examine the technology accumulated over more than 230 years and translate it into modern watchmaking.

What is the Girard-Perregaux DNA that has continued uninterrupted to this day?

　The history of the brand began in 1791 when Jean-François Bautte opened a workshop in Geneva. In 1856, the name Girard-Perregaux was born, following the marriage of Constant Girard and Marie Perregaux, who came from a family of watchmakers. The current official history also places 1791 as the origin of the maison, and considers Bautte's bringing together multiple specialized skills under one roof—not only watchmaking but also engraving, jewelry making, and goldsmithing—as the starting point for the later integrated manufacture.

　What's important in this history is that Girard-Perregaux has never treated precision and aesthetics as separate things.

　The most iconic example is the 1867 Three-Bridge Tourbillon. Constant Girard reshaped the bridges, which were originally merely functional components for securing the gear train, into an arrow shape and arranged three of them in parallel. In other words, he transformed the structure of the movement itself into a design element. According to official records, this chronometer tourbillon, unveiled at the Neuchâtel Observatory and the Paris World's Fair in 1867, achieved outstanding results at the observatory. Furthermore, in 1889, "La Esmeralda," which perfected this concept, won a gold medal at the Paris World's Fair.

　And this idea of ​​"showcasing the mechanism beautifully" is the very DNA of Girard-Perregaux, which continues to this day in the latest Cal.GP4800, which will be discussed later.

Museums are not about preserving the past, but about using them for the future.

　The place that most eloquently tells the story of that history is GP Villa, a historic building adjacent to the headquarters.

　Built in 1918, this mansion was originally the residence of a businessman involved in the watchmaking industry in La Chaux-de-Fonds. Girard-Perregaux purchased it and renovated it into a museum in 1999. Currently, it serves as both a place to tell the brand's history and a venue to welcome guests. According to the explanation given during the interview, it houses approximately 600 historical artifacts. Even today, Girard-Perregaux positions this villa not merely as an exhibition space, but as a place where visitors can experience both history and modern watchmaking simultaneously.

　What's important here is that archives are not just entities that commemorate the past.

　Take the three bridges, for example. Girard-Perregaux first patented this distinctive bridge shape in the United States in 1884. Although the design is over 140 years old, its concept is reinterpreted not only in today's tourbillons but also in the GP4800, the flagship movement unveiled in 2025.

　In other words, the villa houses not just past "finished products," but a vast database of technology and design spanning over 230 years, which can be accessed by current designers and engineers.

The expertise of an auto-horology workshop, which takes 6 to 8 weeks to complete.

　Moving on to the company's auto-horology workshop, another side of Girard-Perregaux is revealed.

　Here, complex timepieces, including tourbillons and minute repeaters, are assembled, adjusted, and finished. In the company's haute horology workshop, one watchmaker is generally responsible for the entire process, from assembly to adjustment. This is a world that demands the skills of a multi-talented watchmaker, capable of handling everything from three-axis tourbillons to adjusting the hammers and gongs of minute repeaters.

　What caught my eye during the interview was the adjustment of the tourbillon. Its carriage is only 10mm in diameter, composed of 72 parts, and weighs just 0.3g. When correcting the balance wheel's weight imbalance, instead of filing down the thin balance wheel itself, the center of gravity is finely adjusted by filing down the attached balance screws.

　Furthermore, the experience of the watchmaker is crucial when it comes to minute repeaters.

　Traditional steel is used for the gong, but the "heel," which is the part that holds the gong in place, is not welded, but rather formed as a single piece by stretching it with a die. The sides are given a hairline finish, and the edges are chamfered. But the decoration isn't the end of it. The base of the "heel" is shaved down to create a tiny indentation, which helps to refine the sound and make it clearer. The length of the gong also affects the pitch, so it is carefully trimmed after the decoration is complete.

　The initial assembly alone takes 4 to 5 weeks. After a preliminary assembly and adjustment of the gong, it is disassembled, cleaned, lubricated, and then reassembled for final adjustments and inspection. The entire process takes a full 6 to 8 weeks.

　It's a process that's the complete opposite of efficiency. But that's where the value of the auto-horology workshop lies.

　The same applies to the three-bridge models; for example, the "Laureato Three-Bridge Tourbillon" requires about a week just for the decoration. The explanation given during the interview—"The added value is created by the artisans hand-decorating each piece"—successfully illustrates the essence of this workshop.

Constant Escapement demonstrates a strength that goes beyond tradition.

　On the other hand, Girard-Perregaux cannot be described solely in terms of traditional craftsmanship.

　In 1965, he developed a high-frequency movement with 36,000 vibrations per hour, and the following year, 1966, he received the Neuchâtel Observatory 100th Anniversary Award. In 1971, he also contributed to establishing the 32,768 Hz frequency, which remains the world standard for quartz watches to this day. Then, in 2013, his "Constant Escapement LM," which uses the elasticity of a silicon blade to supply a constant energy to the balance wheel, won the GPHG's highest award, the "Golden Hand Award."

　At the Auto-Horology Workshop, we were able to see a very close replica of this constant escapement.

　The core silicon blade is only 14 microns thick. The watchmaker rotates eccentric cams on both sides to flex the blade and adjust it to the appropriate tension. This mechanism, which utilizes the elasticity of single-crystal silicon not merely as a material substitution but as the principle of the escapement itself, symbolizes Girard-Perregaux's R&D (research and development) capabilities.

　And the result of applying that research and development capability not to special complications, but to core movements used in everyday life, is the Cal.GP4800, which was announced in 2025.

The Cal.GP4800, a core movement used for the first time in approximately 30 years.

　The GP4800 is a completely new automatic winding core caliber, the first in approximately 30 years since the legendary GP3300. The press release explains that it is not an improvement on an existing design, but a movement developed from a "blank slate."

　The compact size, with a diameter of 25.60mm and a thickness of 4.28mm, not only accommodates the current trend towards smaller watch diameters, but also takes into account the possibility of developing complex mechanisms on the base movement in the future.

　Its content is extremely modern.

　The escape wheel, anchor, and rollers are made of lightweight, non-magnetic, low-friction, and highly wear-resistant silicon. The regulating mechanism is a free-sprung type without a regulator, and inertia is adjusted by four white gold masslets on the balance wheel. In addition, the structure that supports the balance wheel from both sides enhances shock resistance and stability. It also features a power reserve of approximately 55 hours and a hacking seconds function.

　The automatic winding mechanism has also been improved. A shock absorber has been incorporated into the bearings using ceramic balls, reducing noise and shock while increasing efficiency and durability through unidirectional winding.

　However, the appeal of the GP4800, as revealed through our workshop visit, lies in aspects that are difficult to express in the spec sheet.

　During R&D, they deliberately created a difference in the operating force required when the crown's winding stem moves from position "0 to 1" and "1 to 2," optimizing even the feel in the fingertips to prevent accidental jumps from position 0 to position 2. In addition, they considered and improved the mechanism to prevent the minute hand from moving unintentionally when switching between time and calendar adjustments. The completed new Cal.GP4800 movement underwent a total of 80 tests in the laboratory.

　In other words, the evolution of the GP4800 isn't just about easily recognizable new technologies like silicon and free-sprung balance. It's about designing everything from the moment the user touches the crown to decades of durability as a single, integrated system.

　The watch's exterior clearly reflects its history dating back to 1867. The balance bridge, gear train bridge, and mainspring bridge are constructed as three bridges, giving a modern reinterpretation of the three-bridge symmetry. By displaying this structure beneath the 18K gold rotor, it inherits Constant Girard's philosophy of elevating functional components into aesthetic design. Furthermore, the bridges, mainplate, and rotor are given more than 10 different finishes, and perlage decoration is applied even to the underside of the mainplate, which is not visible from the front. WebChronos, as previously reported, also praised the GP4800 as a new generation core caliber that "combines practicality and aesthetics."

A manufacture that transforms history into the "present tense."

　As you tour from the GP Villa to the Auto-Horology Workshop and then to R&D, you realize that these are by no means independent departments.

　The 1867 Three Bridges watch preserved in the museum is still assembled and decorated by hand in the autohorology workshop, and its philosophy is carried on in the form of the latest mass-produced flagship movement, the GP4800. Meanwhile, the knowledge of silicon and the obsession with precision cultivated through the development of constant escapements were translated into a practical silicon escapement in the GP4800.

　Preserving history. Passing it down through craftsmanship. Evolving it through R&D. And then, returning the results to the next generation of mass-produced movements.

　This very cycle is perhaps the greatest strength of Girard-Perregaux, as I witnessed at their headquarters workshop in La Chaux-de-Fonds.

　For a company that has been in business since 1791, being a manufacture doesn't simply mean "making things in-house." Just as the Three Bridges of 1867 transformed mechanism into design, and the GP4800 of 2025 translated that philosophy into modern precision, reliability, and durability, it is the ability to continuously transform the knowledge of watchmaking inherited from the past into the technology needed for each era. That is precisely why Girard-Perregaux remains at the forefront of haute horology even after more than 230 years.