Time Around the World

The ww.tc Financial of the ww.tc line of watches from Girard-Perregaux makes an emphatic statement about the brand’s heritage and ongoing commitment to innovation and design. By Veyoleen Mehrotra.

Solid Foundation
It was in 1791 that Jean-François Bautte, a resolute 19-year-old, added his name to his collection of watches. This move marked the inception of Girard-Perregaux. Bautte had honed his skills by training as a case-fitter, engine-turner, watchmaker and goldsmith. His skills and application of knowledge helped him develop some of the finest ultra-thin watches. Over time, he succeeded in setting up a manufactory in Geneva, which housed all the crafts associated with watchmaking.

The manufactory was witness to some of the most distinguished visitors of its day, one of whom was Victoria, the future Queen of England. A brilliant craftsman and a shrewd entrepreneur, Bautte was patronised by many eminent personalities, making him one of the most celebrated watchmakers of his time. His knowledge of watchmaking and vision for the brand has been successfully implemented by the company over the years.

Step by Step
It was as early as 1860 when watchmakers started developing timepieces known as ‘captain’s watches’. These were designed to indicate the local time of a traveller's point of departure, on one dial and that of the place where the traveller was, on a second dial. Other watches displayed the local time of many towns as well as that of the place where one was staying. The brand’s contribution to this need was the Girard-Perregaux pocket watch, 1860. This was developed before time zones were introduced. Until then, local times were determined on the longitude of regions.

However, with the rapidly developing trade and transportation industry, this system resulted in all sorts of confusion.

Then in 1870, Canadian engineer, Sandford Fleming proposed the division of the globe into 24 zones, with each one covering 15° of longitude. By 1911, the international world had adopted this concept of time.

In their quest to display the local time of different zones, craftsmen tried to develop a watch that could house two synchronised movements. So in 1950, an independent Geneva watchmaker, Louis Cottier, invented an ingenious system of a watch with two crowns.The timepiece featured a universal time display and made it possible to see the time in several cities simultaneously.

A Revolutionary Journey
In 2001, Girard-Perregaux launched a movement with a new date system, a large display window and a moon-phases indicator. Later that year, it introduced the ww.tc (World Wide Time Control), a large model combining a chronograph function and ‘hours of the world’ indicator.

Four years later, in 2005, the brand added to its ww.tc collection by bringing out an elegantly-designed model. With a diameter of 41 mm, the wristwatch was outfitted with a power reserve indicator. By incorporating a tourbillon with the three gold bridges movement, the watch heralded ww.tc’s transition from a regular timepiece to one that featured a grande complication.

In 2006 at Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH) in Geneva, Girard-Perregaux unveiled its ww.tc Heures du monde with Perpetual Calendar. It became the first watch to offer both a perpetual calendar function as well as an ‘hours of the world’ indicator. Set in gold, the automatic mechanical movement was equipped with a day/ night disc and revealed the day of the week, the date, and the moon phase over a four-year period that includes the leap year.
By this point in time, the ww.tc line of watches had gained iconic status in the world of haute horlogerie. A year later, in 2007, the brand introduced the ww.tc Financial, the first watch to display the opening hours of the world's major stock markets.

An Ingenious Creation
Living up to its name, the watches in the ww.tc series feature a World Time function — a single system that can be used to determine simultaneously, the reading of local time and the time in all 24 leading cities. Since the 24-hour ring is synchronised with the hour hand, it does not require any adjustment.