GIRARD PERREGAUX Watches

In 1791, Swiss watchmaker Jean François Bautte created his first timepieces and soon built up a reputation for his ultrathin models. He established a manufactory in Geneva and, in an innovative move, housed all the watchmaking crafts of the period under one roof. In 1837, Jacques Bautte and Jean Samuel Rossel took over from the eminent J. F. Bautte, who left them an extremely valuable industrial and cultural inheritance.

In 1854, Constant Girard married Marie Perregaux. It was from the union of their two names that the GIRARD-PERREGAUX Manufactory was born in 1856. In 1867, Constant Girard presented his Tourbillon with three gold Bridges after years of research into the functional use of gold in watch movements. This masterpiece was awarded the gold medal at the Universal exhibitions of Paris in 1867 and 1889, but declared ineligible in 1901 because it could not be equalled.

In 1880, Constant Girard developed an extremely innovative concept for watches, the wristwatch, following an order by Emperor Wilhelm I of Germany for his naval officers. Two thousand were made, the first large-scale production of wristwatches in history. But the idea was considered outlandish and production was discontinued. It was not until the beginning of the twentieth century that the wristwatch became popular and enjoyed the industrial development that has made watchmaking one of the flagship industries of the Swiss economy. In the early 20th century, Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin used a GIRARD-PERREGAUX watch to time the aeronautical trials of his airships. As wristwatches came into their own around 1910, GIRARD-PERREGAUX's reputation spread far and wide. In 1928, Otto Graef, a German watchmaker and owner of MIMO (International Manufactory of Gold Watches) bought out GIRARD-PERREGAUX's share capital. In 1930, sales of wristwatches exceeded sales of pocket watches for the first time, proof of Constant Girard's farsightedness when he developed the wristwatch as early as 1880.

from http://www.vintagewatchrestoration.com/history/body.html