Girard Perregaux

The patents and inventions by Girard-Perregaux

 

Dear enthusiasts,

i?d like to draw your attention to an aspect of GP?s history not very often mentioned.

Actually GP (respectively the inventors in touch with the projects) holds a surprising number of patents, which testify their strong orientation towards innovative and creative solutions in watchmaking.
Some of them are well-known (like the patented Three Gold Bridges layout of the Tourbillon movements), some remain rather unknown.

Here is one of them; actually it?s been filed by Otto Graef who was CEO of the Graef Group and owner of GP as well as MIMO some decades ago.
With Graef?s background as a manufacturer of watch cases in first degree, it is probably no surprise to see creative thinking included innovative watch cases (among many other stunning details in watchmaking).
So if you think Breitling?s Navitimer was the first of this kind, a surprise awaits you:

patent filed July 27, 1940
patent registered August 15, 1941



patent filed April 8, 1942
patent registered October 15, 1943

Actually the later model debuted under the model name "Loga" and the "MIMO-Loga" is a very rare and much sought after model today, almost impossible to find in good condition and among the most collectible pieces of that time.

Clever inventions and ideas are likely to work fine still in 2005:
While a "calculating" bezel is no longer made by GP, but a "revolving" (or moving) bezel is still today featured in one GP?s most successfull models: the WW.TC, which features another GP patented solution for the world time function.

Greetings from germany,

Peter