Girard Perregaux

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

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