The history of one of the oldest watch brands is directly connected with two legendary characters who left a bright mark on the history of Swiss watchmaking. The first is Jean-François Bautte, born in 1772 into a family of simple workers from Geneva. Orphaned early, Bautte, being a 12-year-old boy, was sent to study watchmaking, mastering the professions of case assembler, guilloche maker, watchmaker and jeweler.
Bautte made his first watch in 1791, after which, combining the talent of a creator and a businessman, he opened his own manufacture, gathering workers of all professions related to watchmaking under one roof. In addition to watches, the Bautte manufacture produced jewelry, music boxes and other luxury items. An enterprising businessman with the character of a true diplomat, Jean-François Bautte traded not only in Europe, but also in Turkey, India, and China. Dumas, Balzac and Pushkin dedicated laudatory odes to the creations of the Geneva watchmaker, who would become one of the creators of ultra-thin watches.
The watchmaker would leave a rich engineering cultural heritage to his successors, Jacques Bautte and Jean-Samuel Rossel. Another key figure in the history of Girard-Perregaux is Constant Girard (1825-1903), a native of Neuchâtel, who founded his own watch manufacture Girard & Cie. in 1852. Two years later, Girard married Marie Perregaux (1831-1912), the heiress of an influential family of merchants from Le Locle, who were engaged in the watch trade. The name Girard-Perregaux, familiar to every connoisseur of watchmaking, formed by the fusion of the spouses’ names, appeared on the watch market in 1856.
Girard was a true visionary. In 1880, at the request of Kaiser Wilhelm I, he developed a concept for a wristwatch intended for officers of the German navy. The watch’s special feature was the presence of a special grid on the front side of the dial, which protected the glass from various mechanical damages and impacts. The order volume was 2,000 pieces – an unheard-of circulation for wristwatches at that time. Despite the obvious benefits, Girard’s innovation was not immediately accepted. It took more than one decade for the wristwatch for naval officers to be appreciated by potential clients of the manufacture.
In October 1865, Henri Perregaux and his wife landed on the Argentine coast to settle in Buenos Aires as the company’s authorized representative in the Northern and Southern States of America. From 1872, Henri Perregaux’s authority extended to the Antilles. This man devoted sixteen years of his life to developing and strengthening the brand on the American market. Girard-Perregaux would also become the first Swiss brand to establish itself on the Japanese market. The company’s branch in the Land of the Rising Sun (F. Perregaux & Co) was founded in 1865.
At the dawn of the 20th century, Girard-Perregaux’s authority in the field of watchmaking would be so strong that the watch house’s models would be judged outside of competition, and the company itself would become a permanent member of the jury at international watch exhibitions. Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin himself experimented with his balloons using high-precision Girard-Perregaux watches.
In 1903, after the death of Constant Girard, his son Constant Girard-Gallet (1856-1945) took over the company. Three years later, Girard-Gallet would merge his father’s manufacture with the famous watch house Maison Bautte, creating a powerful company called Girard-Perregaux & Cie.
A new stage in the development of the brand is associated with the name of the German watchmaker, owner of the MIMO (Manufacture Internationale de Montres Or) brand Otto Graef (1862-1948), who in 1928 bought out a controlling stake in the company, becoming the new owner of the brand. It was to the Graefs that the brand owes its popularity in the United States.
In 1992, the company was headed by an Italian entrepreneur, former architect and experienced racer Luigi Macaluso. For many years, Macaluso was the official importer of watches in Italy, and since 1989 he was a member of the Board of Directors of the company. Under his leadership, the company will become one of the leading manufacturers of luxury watches and will begin to cooperate with the Italian car brand Ferrari. The result of ten years of cooperation will be a collection of magnificent sports models with complications, which can be distinguished by the signature Ferrari logo on the dial in the form of a rearing horse.
In addition to the active development of in the field of engineering innovation, Girard-Perregaux expands the brand’s presence on the world market, opening brand stores in different corners of the globe. The brand’s ultra-complicated watch mechanisms, enclosed in robust cases with noble silhouette lines, today, as 200 years ago, find fans among the most demanding customers.
