Girard Perregaux

History of Girard-Perregaux

Girard Perregaux SA is a luxury Swiss watch manufacture with its origins dating back to 1791.In 1852, the watchmaker Constant Girard founded Girard & Cie in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. He then married Marie Perregaux in the same year, and the Girard-Perregaux Manufacture was founded in 1856.

The Manufacture has approximately 80 patents in the watchmaking domain and is the originator of many innovative concepts. 1965: Girard-Perregaux designed the first mechanical movement at high frequency, with the balance beating at 36,000 vibrations/hour: the Gyromatic HF. 1967: Girard-Perregaux receives the Centenary Award from the Astronomical Observatory de Neuchatel in recognition of the accomplishments of the Manufacture generally, and specifically for the Observatory Chronometer wristwatch that used the Gyromatic HF movement. 1970: Girard-Perregaux presents its first wristwatch to the world to be equipped with a quartz movement and the following year a second one which vibrates at 32,768 hertz, the frequency remaining the universal standard for quartz watches today. 2008: Girard-Perregaux presents prototypes of a constant-force escapement, distinguishing itself from all the other known escapements to this day. The first watch housing the constant escapement is presented in 2013.

Since 2011, the Swiss holding group of Girard-Perregaux, Sowind Group, has been a subsidiary of the French Kering Group. Headquartered in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland.