Girard-Perregaux has been on a roll since the release of the La Esmeralda Tourbillon “A Secret” Eternity Edition. Now comes the Minute Repeater Flying Bridges, the Manufacture's third new top-tier calibre in under six months—a pace that would be ambitious for any brand, let alone one building movements of this complexity entirely in-house. At 475 components, with a minute repeater, tourbillon, and a new micro-rotor automatic winding system all packed into one openworked architecture, this is the kind of watch that justifies the term "grand complication."
The architecture traces directly to La Esmeralda, the revolutionary pocket watch whose Three Gold Bridges debuted in the mid-1800s and earned recognition at the 1889 Paris Universal Exhibition, a piece that remains one of the most important design statements in GP's 230-plus-year history.
Things to Know About the Watch
The pink gold case measures 46 mm in diameter and 17.90 mm thick—quite substantial, but somewhat expected for a minute repeater with a tourbillon. Both sides feature domed, glare-proof sapphire crystals that serve double duty: providing visual access to the movement and amplifying the chime.
The dial is essentially the movement itself. A pink gold inner bezel ring frames the skeletonized GP9530, with applied hour markers and openworked hands in pink gold, both treated with blue-emission luminescent material. The three Flying Bridges—rendered here in pink gold with their signature arrow-shaped ends—span the movement in GP's iconic configuration, though with a twist: the third bridge has been repositioned to the caseback. The result is an exceptionally open, symmetrical presentation on both sides.
One notable engineering detail: the repeater's slide-piece has been redesigned as an arrow-shaped element integrated into a monobloc case-middle, allowing 30 m of water resistance. That's uncommon for a minute repeater, where the activation mechanism typically compromises sealing. The strap is black rubber with a fabric-effect texture, secured by a pink gold triple-folding clasp.
The Movement
The watch is powered by the automatic Calibre GP9530 equipped with a micro-rotor, which delivers a minimum 60-hour power reserve. The self-winding system uses a white gold micro-rotor fitted with jewels, engineered to operate silently—a critical requirement when the whole point of the watch is listening to it.
Acoustic performance drove every material and structural decision. The plate and bridges are titanium, chosen for their rigidity-to-weight ratio and their ability to efficiently propagate vibrations. The mainplate is secured directly to the case to eliminate energy loss in the transfer of sound from movement to the pink gold case. The gongs and gong stud are machined from a single piece of metal to avoid interference, and the centrifugal strikework regulator has been relocated to the caseback to keep the dial side clean—both visually and sonically.
The openworked architecture isn't purely decorative; removing material from the movement allows sound to reverberate more freely within the case. GP's lyre-shaped tourbillon cage, a design the brand has used since the 19th century, doubles as a small seconds display. Assembly and decoration require over 440 hours, and each finished calibre carries a small plate engraved with the initials of the master watchmaker who built it. The movement features 1,340 hand-polished chamfers, 295 of which are interior angles.
Summary & Price
This is Girard-Perregaux making a statement about what it can do and how quickly it can do it. Three major new calibres in six months is a production cadence that signals real depth on the bench in La Chaux-de-Fonds. The Minute Repeater Flying Bridges combines two grand complications with a modern winding system, housed in an architecture that prioritizes acoustic performance at every turn, from material selection to structural layout. It's a serious piece of haute horlogerie from a Manufacture that's clearly operating with renewed momentum.
Sticker Price USD 590,000. For more info on Girard-Perregaux, click here.
