Watchmakers that frequently question how far they can go and how precise a watch can become often deliver the greatest surprises. The new Girard-Perregaux Minute Repeater Flying Bridges pushes the boundaries even for the haute horologist, boasting more than 440 hours of decoration and assembly, resulting in a sleek watch that chimes the time in a fashion both historic and utterly modern.
A whopping 475 components make up the impossibly elegant and remarkably precise watch, which delivers the ultimate in construction and complications. Both a flying tourbillon and a minute repeater rest within the watch alongside a delicate yet highly functional micro-rotor automatic winding system, while the timepiece itself was completed using more than 1,000 hand-finished angles.
Six weeks of production work by a veteran master watchmaker of more than 25 years help deliver the utmost in luxury and horological precision. It also marks the third in-house caliber introduced by the watchmaker in less than six months, a feat nearly unmatched given the level of intricacy involved in a typical Girard Perregaux timepiece.
A work of watchmaking science and horological art, the new Girard-Perregaux Minute Repeater Flying Bridges accordingly comes with a worthy price tag of about $590,000. Of the watch, which uses domed sapphire crystals on each side of the watch to create a “sound box” effect,” Girard-Perregaux was suitably proud of the stunning achievement. “Its mechanical architecture is designed to enhance resonance and redefine the aesthetic codes of the chiming watch according to Girard-Perregaux,” the watchmaker noted.
A fusion of “design and function” rests at the heart of the chiming watch and its groundbreaking aesthetic and utility, the watchmaker noted, as the new complication breaks new ground while also paying homage to the company’s roots. “Calibre GP9530 offers a modern interpretation of the Three Bridges architecture,
the brand’s iconic signature since the mid-1800s,” the brand noted. Indeed, chiming watches or the act of listening to the time, as Girard-Perregaux notes, dates back centuries, this time retooled in a modern 43.5mm movement.
Titanium plates aid in guiding the tone of the watch as it chimes, while hammers strike the gongs of the movement assembly on the dial side. It’s a complication few watchmakers can get right in the fashion that Girard-Perregaux handles both the historical accuracy and modern performance of such a complex movement.
A pink gold case carries the entire watch handsomely, while the watchmaker notes that a carefully inserted plate bearing the watchmaker’s initials rests within the skeletonized caliber. It’s a towering achievement in watchmaking that remains “part of a heritage that has been passed down throughout the history of Girard-Perregaux.” Find out more online via the watchmaker now.
