Girard Perregaux

Dje
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Some thoughts on a sad day!

Dear fellow Girard-Perregaux fans,

You know now that and why today is a sad day for all of us as we learnt the premature and sudden death of the man who "designed" Girard-Perregaux the way it is now.

I wish to write a few words about Luigi Macaluso, a man I didn't know personaly but I crossed his path a few times during watch shows, always with great admiration for his work.



In fact I can't help but realize the great job done in nearly twenty years.

Girard-Perregaux is a haute horlogerie brand and an old name. Still the current collections while paying hommage to the past are clearly modern creations, certainly to a great extent originating in Dr Macaluso's style, taste, work and desire. They are far from those of the traditional brand it was before his arrival.

His past of rally racer and his role in the automobile sport organization were echoed by many creations, among them the Girard-Perregaux Ferrari range.that appealed many of us to the most Italian watch brand. They were somewhat the "entry" pieces. The more recent automobile commemorative pieces are bearing that flag up to today.

In the same years Girard-Perregaux has been back as a real manufacture of watch calibres. Girard-Perregaux is not only producing nearly all of its calibres in-house, but is also providing its very slim automatic calibres to several upscale brands or independant watchmakers. Cartier, Vacheron Constantin, Daniel Roth, Gerald Genta, MBF, and others use or have used them.

Speaking of calibres, we must remind the king of the Girard-Perregaux calibres, a calibre resulting from history and from a rebirth project initiated before the arrival of Mr Luigi macaluso at the helm, but that he decided to turn into a range of wristwatches.

The Three Gold Bridges Tourbillon, "Tourbillon Sous Trois Ponts d'or", is certainly the best image of the horological refinement expressed by Girard-Perregaux.

The last iteration of a rich family of watches:



If tourbillon watches have been one of the great successes of the last years, the Girard-Perregaux tourbillon was and is probably one of the most coveted and universally lauded pieces.

The last versions issued may well have taken into account Mr Macaluso's training as an architect. They are now clearly brought to a new generation of design that can only remind that La Chaux de Fonds is also a town of architects.

Between the Ferrari range and the upscale Three Gold Bridges Tourbillon watches, Dr Macaluso and Girard-Perregaux have developed a large range of very tasty watches, be they part of the currently very successfull 1966 range, or the Richeville, the Laureato, the WW.TC, the Vintage 45, the Sea Hawk or the glowing ladies' watches. We are many here enjpying these watches.

While being very active in terms of communication, Dr Macaluso has positioned Girard-Perregaux as a brand "for the few", a brand that has avoided all the bling of the recent years but has targeted to reach the top of the horological refinement in design and mechanics.

This very special blend of culture, beauty, performance, excellence is the legacy of this man.

Molte Grazie Dottore Macaluso!

Dje


This message has been edited by Dje on 2010-10-28 22:17:28