At the end of the XIX century, the development of international or universal exhibitions and the creation of the Observatory of Neuchâtel (1858) contributed to the infatuation with tourbillon watches.
Most manufacturers at that time used basic ‘standard’ movements, around which they adapted their tourbillons.
In contrast, Constant Girard set about using elements left to one side by the watchmakers of the period: the structure of the movement and the shape of the components.
Thus, the movement ceased to be merely a technical component, and contributed to the aesthetics of the watch, to the extent of becoming a mark of recognition.
In 1884, Constant Girard patented his movement with three gold bridges: his work is a veritable synthesis of the aesthetical, the technical and without doubt, the symbolical - a unique example in the history of watchmaking.
His first Tourbillon with three gold bridges was awarded the gold medal at the Universal Exhibition of Paris in 1889, and then declared out of competition, as it was beyond match.
From 1865, GIRARD-PERREGAUX registered 57 Tourbillons at the Observatory of Neuchâtel, of which 24 with three gold bridges.
Four of them won prizes, the last in 1911, a few years after the death of Constant Girard.
Several generations of watchmakers later, at the height of the Swiss watch industry’s crisis, under siege by the competition from quartz, certain brands decided to react by re-launching the development of beautiful, mechanical watches.
At that time, GIRARD-PERREGAUX began to produce 20 replicas of the original from 1889.
It was necessary to re-learn how to make the elements that had meanwhile disappeared, and manage processes long since forgotten. In 1981, after almost 1500 hours of work, the first piece emerged and attracted the highest of praise.
In 1986, the Research and Development Department received the mandate to create a bracelet version of the Tourbillon with three gold bridges for the Brand’s bicentenary in 1991.
The challenge was to miniaturize the movement of the pocket watch and to inverse its construction, positioning the gold bridges on the dial side.
In 1999, an automatic version was introduced. The task was enormous, since an unsightly oscillating rotor could not be allowed to alter the aesthetics and architecture of the movement.
An ingenious system provided the solution, consisting of a micro-rotor in platinum hidden underneath the barrel, whose weight compensated exactly for the component weight lost in the overall miniaturization process.
Finally, it is worth mentioning the complications associated with the Tourbillon with three gold bridges, like so many other expressions of the creativity of the GIRARD-PERREGAUX watchmakers, striving to breathe new life into this icon that has existed for decades, the Tourbillon with three gold bridges.
