Girard-Perregaux Marine Chronometer 'John Harrison'

Bruno.M1 · 2016-03-04T11:49:55Z

Explore the rare Girard-Perregaux Marine Chronometer 'John Harrison' from 1993. Learn about its history, movement, and collector appeal.

Bruno.M1

WPS member · Girard Perregaux forum

8 replies1665 views0 photos

Posted this a few days ago on the public forum. Since it is a Girard Perregaux I will make an extra post here One with a bit more info and some extra pictures GP made these marine chronometers in 1993. 1993 because 300 years earlier in 1693 Mr John harrison was born. John Harrison was the inventor o

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Posted this a few days ago on the public forum.

Since it is a Girard Perregaux I will make an extra post here

One with a bit more info and some extra pictures

GP made these marine chronometers in 1993. 1993 because 300 years earlier in 1693 Mr John harrison was born. John Harrison was the inventor of the Marine Chronometer

some extra info from Wikipedia

John Harrison (3 April [O.S. 24 March] 1693– 24 March 1776) was a self-educated English carpenter and clockmaker who invented the marine chronometer, a long-sought after device for solving the problem of calculating longitude while at sea. His solution revolutionized navigation and greatly increased the safety of long-distance sea travel. The problem he solved was considered so important following the Scilly naval disaster of 1707 that the British Parliament offered financial rewards of up to £20,000 (£2.81 million) under the 1714 Longitude Act.

To be hones tI always wanted a marine chronometer OR a JLC Atmos. Different things of course but I liked both. It took me several years to decide but as you see I bought the Marine chronometer.

About 2 or 3 years ago by AD showed me this GP. It was old stock , he once was a GP AD but that was long ago. Anyway when he showed me this piece I got more and more interested. I asked him if he wanted to sell it , not knowing if he wanted to sell it.

A week ago I decided to ask it again, not knowing if he still had it or not. And yes, it was still in his stock. And he wanted to sell it

So I bought it

The movement is a Poljot. It seems that originally Ulysses Nardin made these movements but somehow Poljot 'borrowed' the plans from UN

I don't know if Poljot got the permission or not, maybe the patents expired

Anyway, the Kirov company ( aka first Moscow watch company) made a lot of these movements. At that time it was very cheap to produce things in the CCCP or USSR, under a communist regime labor hours

don't count. In fact the only thing that has to be paid are the materials.

So after all these movements were finished pretty well, it did' matter if they worked some extra hours on such a movement.

The movement is gold plated solid brass, it has 15 jewels. 14 rubies and 1 diamond. I was told the jewel under the balance is a diamond.

lets have a look at the movement

the balance is a giant

just look at this picture, the balance compared to a balance we find in a wristwatch ( picture found via google)

a nice fusee chain mechanism

the balance is made in palladium

I'm not sure but I think they don't make these movements anymore

One a youtube video somebody said they stopped making these because it was too expensive to keer servicing all the necessary tools to make these movements AND the only watchmaker who made this movement was about to go in retirement. So they might have a few in stock but if this info is correct, production already stopped some time ago

So from now on I will admire it when sitting in the seat in the living room

just a last picture, it gives you an impression of the size ( 39,5mm watch next to it)

I contacted Girard Perregaux to get more info ( How long did they make these, how many were made, and all useful extra info)

But unfortunately they did not answer yet

If they give me extra information, I will share it here

The Discussion

Horology75

Mar 4, 2016

What a post ! Well done my friend . Detailed insight of a beautiful instrument . I don\'t know why but I always loved marine desk Chronometers . I personally own a zenith marine Chronometre and has always been on hunt to get a glashutte , Lange & Söhne and Ulysee Nardin one but failed as I don\'t have knowledge and Iam scared to buy from open market . After reading your post I did start my hunt for a GP one but failed as they are rare and are sold out completely . Even checked the HQ of GP. Enjo

Bruno.M1

Mar 4, 2016

I believe it has the zenith 5011k movement Very, very different but such a legendary movement The zenith marine chronometer was pretty expensive too, I believe it was around 5500 euro back in 1998 Almost 20 years ago one could have bought a nice wristwatch for that price

crown comfort

Mar 5, 2016

my only problem, I don't have the matching yacht to go along with it CC

blomman Mr Blue

Mar 5, 2016

Thank you for this post, Bruno! The fusee chain mechanism is just awesome! I know that the people at the manufacture are very busy right now before Basel, but let's hope they can dig up some more information on this one. Best Blomman

Bruno.M1

Mar 7, 2016

Got a reply from GP today In a nutshell - About 20 years ago they made 50 of these Marine Chronometer - Since 1986 GP owns the brandname 'John Harrison' - they wanted to make a Marine Chronometer to use the name 'John Harrison' for the first time - GP did not have the machines and tools to make a Marine Chronometer movement so they contacted Poljot ( they bought 50 movements + some spare parts) - GP modified some details - GP wanted them to be certified COSC. The COSC was a problem because the g

blomman Mr Blue

Mar 7, 2016

Thank you for these additional information. Very interesting! If I only could find one of these... Best Blomman

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