The majestic high-speed Tri-Axial tourbillon by Girard-Perregaux welcomes two captivating, delicately miniature-painted complications: a rotating globe with day/night indication and a precision moon-phase display. The watches in this Fine Watchmaking bear the technical and aesthetic signature of the Swiss Manufacture. A complex structure revealed by an iconic and luminous design.

Girard-Perregaux has been defying gravity for 150 years and once again demonstrates its mastery of high-precision movements. The three-dimensional Planetarium watch combines a Tri-Axial tourbillon, a globe performing one full turn in 24 hours and an astronomical moon phase. Cleverly combining technical expertise, iconic design and traditional craftsmanship, it distils the essence of the Girard-Perregaux DNA: arrow-shaped gold bridges, a lyre-shaped tourbillon carriage, sapphire domes and a side opening enabling light to flood into this supserbly refined mechanism.

The tourbillon, an ingenious device compensating for the effects of gravity on a mechanical watch, is a speciality of Girard-Perregaux, which developed an innovative and sophisticated version in 2014 – the Tri-Axial Tourbillon – that joined other previous interpretations such as the bi-axial tourbillon. As its name implies, this high-speed tourbillon is equipped with a regulator operating on three rotation axes instead of just one.

This featherweight 1.24-gram,140-part movement comprises an inner lyre-shaped carriage – a signature of the Maison since 1880 – performing one rotation per minute. It is fitted inside a structure spinning on a second axis in 30-second cycles. Both are in turn incorporated within a third structure revolving once ever two minutes on yet another axis. The result is a mesmerising choreography entirely dedicated to conquering precision.

Two astronomical complications join the dance. The globe with its 24-hour rotation provides an instant reading of the time around the world. Set to 12 o’clock (noon), the arrow indicator positioned at the base of the 13 mm-diameter aluminium sphere serves to show where it is daytime on the dial side, and where it is night-time, on the back.

Hand-crafted using the miniature painting technique, its cartography depicts the world as it was in 1791, the year the brand was created. The equally micro-painted lunar disc picks up the 17^th century selenography at the time the telescope was invented, beautifully matching the blue shades of the rotating globe and reproducing the moon as we see it. Equipped with a precision mechanism, the astronomical moon-phase indicator requires adjustment only once every 122 years, by means of a dedicated corrector at 2 o’clock.

The 48 mm-diameter pink gold case is endowed with all the attributes of Girard-Perregaux Fine Watchmaking: an imposing curved case middle, a bevelled bezel and cambered lugs. Water-resistant to 30 metres, it is topped by a three-part sapphire crystal, with two domes providing space for the rotation of the tri-axial tourbillon and the globe. The transparent case-back and the side opening in the case ensure a perfect view of this complex mechanism, literally flooding it with light. Equipped with hand-winding Manufacture GP09310-0001 calibre ensuring a 70-hour power reserve, the Planetarium with Tri-Axial tourbillon drives the hours, minutes, moon-phase and day/night functions. These indications are displayed on a guilloché silver-toned dial bearing a motif evoking Earth’s meridians and punctuated by pink gold numerals and hour-markers swept over by dauphine-type hands.

This movement visible through the transparent screw-down back is adorned with meticulous hand-crafted finishing and the iconic signature characteristics of the Maison: arrow-shaped bridges, along with the engraved eagle symbol holding the brand insignia. The rear baseplate is sandblasted and black PVD-treated to accentuate the ‘night’ side of the day/night indicator, thus making a striking contrast with the silver-toned guilloché dial. The Planetarium Tri-Axial watch is fitted with a black alligator leather strap with a pink gold folding clasp.