Girard-Perregaux Watches

Technical and elegant, the watches in the ww.tc (world wide time control) line are characterised by a single system providing the simultaneous reading of local time and the time in all 24 time zones. A further sophisticated feature makes the ww.tc – Financial the first watch to display the opening hours of the world's major stock markets.

Before the world was divided into time zones, there were hundreds of local times based on the longitude of regions and more or less recognised officially. Watchmakers began making what were known as captain's watches; these indicated 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. Other watches mentioned the local time of a whole number of towns as well as that of the place where one was staying.

This situation caused all sorts of confusion at a time when trade and transportation were expanding rapidly. Then, in 1870, the Canadian engineer, Sandford Fleming, proposed dividing the globe into 24 zones, with each one covering 15° of longitude. This concept was only adopted by the whole international community in 1911.

To show the time in several different time zones, watch companies tried incorporating two synchronised movements into a watch. Then, in 1950, an independent Geneva watchmaker, Louis Cottier, invented the ingenious system of a watch with two crowns, with a universal time display showing the time in several cities simultaneously.

In 2000, Girard-Perregaux introduced a chronograph concept with an hours-of-the-world indicator. This model, called the ww.tc (world wide time control), was based on an ingenious coupling mechanism which turns a ring displaying the time in all 24 time zones. Girard-Perregaux enhanced its ww.tc collection with an elegant model 41 mm in diameter featuring a power reserve indicator. Using a Tourbillon with Three Gold Bridges movement for the very first time marked the ww.tc's entry into the world of grand complications. In 2006, Girard-Perregaux unveiled its ww.tc Perpetual Calendar at SIHH 2006. It is the first watch to combine perpetual calendar functions and an hours-of-the-world indicator. With the ww.tc – Financial, Girard-Perregaux also presents the first watch to display the opening hours of the world's major stock markets.