1 July 2014

It has such a distinctive construction that it is immediately recognizable. And yet there is very little left of the original in the new version of the Girard-Perregaux Tourbillon with Three Bridges, and the manufacture seems to want to project this classic of haute horlogerie—first created as a pocket watch all the way back in the 1860s—into the future. First of all, the famous three bridges present an unprecedented design: skeletonized and made from sandblasted titanium coated with PVD, they are screwed onto two raised sections of the main plate (the base of the movement, treated with ruthenium), creating an attractive sense of depth. The tourbillon retains the traditional cage in the shape of a lyre, but is made of titanium too (and thus is very light, weighing only 0.25 of a gram). The entire movement has been completely redesigned: mechanical with automatic winding, it is equipped with a micro-rotor located under the barrel that provides a power reserve of three days, and with a central bridge visible from the bottom. The hyper-modern architecture lends itself to further developments, and it’s a safe bet that it will give rise to endless variations on the theme.