SIHH 2008: Girard-Perregaux Tourbillon Chronograph Watch With Rattrapante And Foudroyante

The Girard-Perregaux Tourbillon Chronograph with Rattrapante and Foudroyante will join the brand's Haute Horlogerie collection, offering a truly extraordinary combination of virtuoso complications.  In addition to a one minute tourbillon on a gold bridge, the watch also offers a date display, and a remarkable chronograph function which has a split-seconds complication, in addition to a foudroyante--a rare and complex complication which subdivides time into 1/6 of a second, by means of a hand which encircles a subdial once each second, stopping in precise increments.

Movement is the Girard-Perregaux GP9973 caliber.  Manufactured by Girard-Perregaux, the caliber is manually wound and comprised of 507 hand-finished components; the tourbillon assembly alone features 69 pieces, and weighs a scant 0.4 grams.  Power reserve of the movement is 96 hours, and the balance wheel alternates 21,600 times each hour.  An isolating device in the energy-hungry foudroyante mechanism ensures that the balance amplitude remains constant, even when the foudroyante is triggered.

Girard-Perregaux presents the Tourbillon Chronograph with Rattrapante and Foudroyante in an 18K pink gold case, which features contrasting brushed and polished elements; dimensions are 44mm across, by 17.10mm in height.  The caseback, secured by six screws, has a sapphire crystal window.  The elegant silvered dial is fitted with applied pink gold Arabic numerals, and dauphine hands; the chronograph split-seconds hands are blued.  

The watch is completed by an alligator strap, and a pink gold folding buckle.  Production will be limited to an edition of 33 pieces.