Geneva Watch Days 2021: Girard-Perregaux Tourbillon with Three Gold Bridges

The year was 1867 when Girard-Perragaux first launched the Tourbillon with Three Gold Bridges. The moment it was announced, the timepiece became an instant and now enjoys an iconic status. What the brand did with the Tourbillon with Three Gold Bridges is bring to the forefront three functional parts of the watch that is typically hidden, hence making the invisible visible.

With the launch of the 2021 Tourbillon with Three Gold Bridges for Geneva Watch Days, the brand takes this design philosophy forward but this time with a twist. This time around, the Maison has launched the Tourbillon with Three Gold Bridges with three Neo Bridges made from pink gold. This is the first time that the Girard-Perregaux has used red gold to form the bridges of the timepiece.

Now coming to the construction of the watch, the three bridges of the watch not only supports the gear train, tourbillon and the barrel but also helps in acting as the mainplate. This makes the bridges look like t is floating mid-air and adds to the aesthetic of the watch. The upper and lower surfaces of the pink gold bridges is coated with black PVD and painstakingly chamfered by hand using a small piece of boxwood (an age-old tradition) giving it a perfect finish.

When it comes to the other parts of the watch, the watch plays with three-dimensional forms giving its some interesting architecture. The barrel and the gear train are positioned along a north-south axis with the former arranged in the upper portion of the dial. The tourbillon can be found on the lower half of the dial and is surrounded by an lyre-shaped cage that is a historical design that dates back to the 19th century. A blued hand on the cage rotates at a 360 degree angle eery minute and serves as a small seconds display.