Girard-Perregaux 1966 Tourbillon with gold Bridge

Family - this is something that takes on a whole new dimension when family is somehow bonded with business. There was a group of young watch entrepreneurs in the 70s and 80s - Jean Claude Biver and Gerd Lang among others. But Luigi Macaluso is in many ways something special. Born in Turin in post war Italy, Mr. Macaluso fought through the depths of the quartz crisis and went on to bring two great watch making houses to the forefront of contemporary horology - Girard-Perregaux, and JEANRICHARD.  With his premature passing, this proud pair of firms has not missed a beat.

This is the Girard-Perregaux 1966 Tourbillon with gold Bridge previewed earlier today.

Photo Courtesy of GP

To the Macaluso family - congratulations on an important and memorable anniversary.

And in the words of Girard-Perregaux -


GIRARD-PERREGAUX 1966 TOURBILLON WITH GOLD BRIDGE


220th ANNIVERSARY OF THE MANUFACTURE


1791-2011: The Girard-Perregaux Manufacture celebrates its 220th anniversary.
The start of the 19th century was marked by a pivotal invention in the field of
chronometry. An ingenious device was created to compensate for the rate errors
caused by the Earth's gravity when the watch was in a vertical position: the
Tourbillon.


In the mid-19th century, this complication was refined by the watchmaker Constant
Girard-Perregaux. Long years of research enabled him to bring a completely
innovative concept to fruition: it ensured the movement was no longer simply a
technical and functional component, but a design element in its own right. His
masterwork, a Tourbillon movement, featured three parallel bridges under which the
barrel, centre wheel and Tourbillon were aligned. Each component in his timepieces
was designed to an exceptionally high standard of quality. In 1889, he received
the ultimate accolade: Girard-Perregaux won a gold medal at the Paris Universal
Exhibition for his Tourbillon with three gold Bridges.


To mark the 220th anniversary of the Brand, Girard-Perregaux's Haute Horlogerie
collection will be enhanced by a model inspired by its history and this majestic
complication: the Girard-Perregaux 1966 Tourbillon with gold Bridge, expressing the
essence of watchmaking tradition, available in an edition of 50 individually numbered
pieces.


Tribute to the Tourbillon pocket watches


Sober and elegant, the design of this timepiece evokes that of its illustrious
predecessors. The ‘Breguet’ Arabic numerals painted on the silvered dial, as well
as the blued steel leaf-shaped hands, are both clear references to a time when only
pocket watches existed.


The clean lines of its 40-millimetre case disguise a sophisticated design and
production process. Its curvature and lugs have been carefully fashioned to sit
perfectly on the wrist. Designed in the Manufacture's workshops, it has undergone
meticulous finishing operations to reveal the full brilliance of the pink gold. The
case-back, closed by 6 screws, is hand-engraved to evoke the domes of Girard-
Perregaux's tourbillons dating from the 19th century. Each piece bears its own
individual number, also engraved by hand in keeping with the Brand's tradition.


The case houses a Girard-Perregaux 9610 movement comprising 224 components,


Girard-Perregaux


SIHH 2011


the refined decoration and architecture of which are also inspired by 19th century
pocket tourbillons.


The tourbillon bridge of the new Girard-Perregaux 1966 Tourbillon has an unusual
shape: known as ‘bassiné’, the two arms of the bridge are rounded off. The rounding
off process consists of filing the ends of the arms to make them perfectly uniform,
giving them a semi-cylindrical shape while retaining the demarcation of the centre
and the heels. To finish the operation, the craftsmen use stones, buffs, boxwood
and diamond pastes to smooth them to a perfectly rounded finish. The slightest
imperfection can be immediately detected by the naked eye. This craftsmanship,
which requires the highest level of dexterity and concentration, is a worthy heritage
of the pocket Tourbillons manufactured by Constant Girard-Perregaux in the 19th
century.


The delicate Tourbillon also demands extreme attention to detail: incredible dexterity
is required to assemble its 72 components, all of which fit into a diameter of just one
centimetre. It weighs 0.3 gram - about the same as a swan's feather. Accompanying
it is a self-winding system patented by the Manufacture: a small-diameter platinum
oscillating weight is housed in the space below and around the barrel. This elegant
design leaves the movement's dimensions and architecture intact.


Technical specifications


Pink gold case


Diameter: 40.00 mm


Antireflective sapphire crystal


Case-back fastened with 6 screws


Water resistance: 30 metres (3 ATM)


Girard-Perregaux 9610


Mechanical self-winding movement


Calibre: 28.60 mm


Frequency: 21,600 vibrations/hour (3 Hz)


Jewels: 31


Power reserve: minimum 48 hours


Functions: Tourbillon, hours, minutes, small seconds on the Tourbillon


Alligator strap with pin buckle


Limited and numbered edition of 50 pieces