Girard-Perregaux celebra 220 anos com exposição

Para assinalar os seus 220 anos, a manufactura suíça de Alta Relojoaria Girard-Perregaux organizou uma exposição itinerante, que vai percorrer as principais capitais do mundo, reunindo peças excepcionais do seu museu e uma rara colecção de relógios contemporâneos, naquilo que é a mais importante mostra de sempre da marca fora da Suíça.

Concebida como uma viagem pedagógica à volta do espírito e dos valores da manufactura, a exposição – “A tale of inspiration – Unveiling 220 years of watchmaking Art” - leva o visitante através de dois séculos de evolução da arte de medir o tempo, estabelecendo ao mesmo tempo relações interessantes com grandes acontecimentos internacionais, figuras públicas ou obras de arte que marcaram a história mundial.

Entre as peças raras, documentos e ferramentas mostrados, destaque para o “Esmeralda”, uma obra-prima de Constant Girard-Perregaux, a mais famosa edição do turbilhão com três pontes em ouro, e que ganhou uma medalha de ouro na Exposição Universal de Paris, em 1889.

A exposição inclui ainda a presença de mestres relojoeiros e de artífices, que mostram ao vivo os seus talentos.

A exposição estará de 16 a 18 de Setembro no Museu de Arte e Ciência de Singapura; de 20 a 22 de Outubro nas Sinan Mansions, em Shanghai; de 18 a 26 de Novembro, na Boutique Girard-Perregaux em Madison, Nova Iorque.

Da marca:

Girard-Perregaux, 220 years of watchmaking art

Since 1791, Girard-Perregaux has been reinventing the long tradition of Swiss watchmaking. In its 220 years, the Swiss Manufacture has registered more than 80 patents in the field of watchmaking and has brought legendary creations to life. Today, the Brand is one of the very few to bring together all of the skills and expertise required to produce Haute Horlogerie watches under one roof.

La Esmeralda, watchmaking masterpiece

Several reports of the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1889 referred to the outstanding display cases of Girard-Perregaux particularly mentioning an extraordinarily beautiful, high-precision chronometer that impressed all who saw it. Its movement was a technical masterpiece with an original structure, and the sumptuous decoration of its case was an exceptional demonstration of engraving that involved most of the techniques of the art.

This pocket-watch with its fascinating tourbillon movement was later named “La Esmeralda”. Over the months before the International Exhibition, it had achieved some remarkable test results at the Neuchâtel Observatory in Switzerland, attested by the institution’s issue of its rating certificate. Then, at the exhibition, it was awarded a gold medal by the jury who recognised the perfection, both technical and aesthetic, of this extraordinary timepiece.

The watch bears the name of the luxury Mexican boutique of the agents Hauser and Zivy, to whom it was entrusted for a while. Then “La Esmeralda” is thought to have passed into the ownership of the President of Mexico, Porfirio Diaz (1830-1915) who led the country from 1876 to 1911. Finally, at the end of the 1960s, the pocket-chronometer was acquired from the President’s great grandson and it now crowns the collections of the Girard-Perregaux Museum.