Jean-Francois Bautte began his apprenticeship with Jacques-Dauphin Moulinié from the Pike at the age of twelve and trained himself as watchmaker, guillocheur and goldsmith. Craftsmanship, a remarkable business sense and charm made him one of the most coveted watchmakers of his time. From 1791 he manufactured his own watches, which he also signed, hence 1791 is considered the year of birth of the manufactory. Together with his partners, Jean-Gabriel Moynier, they were one of the most famous watchmakers in Geneva. Their customers: aristocratic and royal houses from all over Europe. A number of writers including Dumas, Blazac and Ruskin wrote about the brilliant watchmaker, who is the inventor of the extra-flat watch. In 1837 Bautte died, his son Jacques and his son-in-law Jean-Samuel Rossel took over the scepter. They continued the work for the manufactory Jean-Francois Bautte & Cie. In 1880, the German war marine ordered around 2,000 wristwatches at Girard-Perregaux, which was a major order for those times when all watches were made by hand and were considered luxury goods. The cover watches were made of 14 karat gold and the glass of the watches was protected by a metal lattice. In 1906 the manufactory Bautte was taken over by the watchmaker Constant Othenin Girard and the watchmaker's workshop was renamed Girard-Perregaux. In 1928, the company had to file for bankruptcy and was bought up in 1929 by the German watchmaker Otto Graef (1862-1948), the owner of the Manufactory Internationale de Montres d'Or (MIMO). Together with his family, Otto Graef has managed to save the Girard-Perregaux brand from destruction and oblivion and has helped to gain a worldwide reputation. In the 1960s, the Girard-Perregaux was one of the few brands to have its own research and development department. The main objective of the department succeeded - the development of a quartz wristwatch. At the beginning of the '70s, the luxury watch brand also introduced the currently used frequency of 32.768 Hz for quartz watches. This frequency has been the worldwide standard since then.

The cheap quartz watches from the Far East were a great competition and also meant the downfall for this Swiss top manufactory. Only Turin entrepreneur Luigi Macaluso succeeded in catapulting the manufactory once again to the top by means of clever marketing and a new edition of legendary classics in the 90s. The former racing driver Macaluso concluded an agreement with Ferrari in 1994. Between 1994 and 2004, Girard-Perregaux presented a collection of sport chronographs with Ferrari logo in limited edition. After the death of Luigi Macaluso in 2010, Girard-Perregaux was taken over by the Sowind Group.

For 225 years Girard-Perregaux presents one innovation after the other - in all fields of time measurement, from design to complications to chronometry.

With 225 exclusive watches from the new Girard-Perregaux line, Girard-Perregaux celebrated its 225th anniversary. Each of these watch models has a dial which is distinguished by its original design and decoration. The indexes and minute scale vary with each watch and make each of the 225 models unique.