Girard-Perregaux

Watchmaker and goldsmith Jean-François Bautte signed his first watches in Geneva in 1791, creating a manufacturing company that grouped all watchmaking facets for the first time. In 1832, Jacques Bautte and Jean-Samuel Rossel succeeded him. Constant Girard founded Girard & Cie in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1852, married Marie Perregaux in 1854, and the Girard-Perregaux Manufacture was officially established in 1856. In 1906, Constant Girard-Gallet acquired the Bautte House and merged it with Girard-Perregaux. The Tourbillon with Three Gold Bridges was patented in 1884 and won a gold medal at the 1889 Paris Universal Exposition. Girard-Perregaux designed the first high-frequency mechanical movement in 1965, the Gyromatic HF at 36,000 vibrations per hour. In 1970, the company presented its first quartz wristwatch, establishing the 32,768 Hz frequency that remains the universal quartz standard. The Laureato launched in 1975 with an integrated bracelet and octagonal bezel. In 1991, a wristwatch version of the Tourbillon with Three Gold Bridges was created for the bicentenary. Since the late 1980s, the brand has been part of the Sowind Group. Sowind became a Kering subsidiary in 2011, but Kering sold its stake via management buyout in 2022.