Girard-Perregaux Neo Bridges Review

It's no secret that I am mainly drawn towards sports watches and with that being the case I have always tended to prefer collections like the Laureato and Sea Hawk from Girard-Perregaux. The manufacture of course is known for much more than its sports and dive watches with one of their most popular and important contributions to the world of watches being the iconic tourbillon with three gold bridges. Over the centuries Girard-Perregaux has released many takes on the three gold bridges watches and today we will be taking a look at one of the most modern takes on the design.

Before we get into the new bridges watch, let's first quickly go over the history of Girard-Perregaux. If you'd like to read a more in-depth history of the brand, please read our review of the Laureato Skeleton Ceramic. Otherwise here is a rather condensed history of Girard-Perregaux.



The history of Girard-Perregaux can be traced back to when Genevan watchmaker Jean-Francois Bautte began creating and signing his own timepieces in 1791. His manufacturing company in Geneva was far ahead of its time by integrating all aspects of watchmaking under one roof. Bautte became well known for his ultra-thin watches as well as his intricate creations.

The story of Girard-Perregaux then moves on to 1852 when B. Constant Girard establishes the watch manufacture "Girard & Cie" in La Chaux-de-Fonds. A few years later in 1854, he then marries Marie Perregaux, a descendant of a respected watch making family. In 1856 Girard-Perregaux is officially established combining the names of both watchmaking families.



Girard-Perregaux would soon go on to create the tourbillon with three parallel gold bridges, which took the high watchmaking tourbillon and now made it more aesthetically pleasing. The "La Esmeralda" pocket watch which featured a tourbillon with three gold bridges created by Girard-Perregaux went on to win the gold medal at the Paris Universal Exposition in 1889.

The 1880s saw tremendous growth for Girard-Perregaux with one of the first commercial orders for watches being placed by the German Imperial Navy who requested around 2,000 watches for their officers. 1906 then saw Constant Girard-Gallet, the son of the founder, acquire Maison Bautte. This allowed Girard-Perregaux to merge the expertise and history of Jean-Francois Bautte's manufacture with the brand and also tie its heritage all the way back to 1791.

The 1900s were a time of great growth for Girard-Perregaux who saw their production of wristwatches pass pocket watches in the 1930s. The 1940s saw the release of the Sea Hawk which was the brands first water resistant watch. In 1965 Girard-Perregaux debuted their first 36,000 vibrations per hour high-frequency movement.



The 1970s saw Girard-Perregaux embrace quartz technology and they released a quartz movement that vibrated at 32,768 Hz which became the standard for the industry. 1975 also saw the release of the famed Laureato integrated sports watch which is still one of the icons of the watch industry. Today Girard-Perregaux is once again an independently owned company operated by the Sowind Group SA that also runs Ulysse Nardin.

Initial Thoughts

Now that we've gone over the history of Girard-Perregaux, let's go ahead and take a look at the watch we'll be reviewing today. The Neo Bridges is a very modern take on the traditional three gold bridges design made iconic by Girard-Perregaux. When the watch arrived the first thing I noticed about it was the use of the bridges on the dial. The Neo Bridges does not have a traditional dial, but instead offers a skeletonized view of the movement beneath. Two of the main dial elements are the hour and minute hands along with the exposed balance wheel. These two elements are fixed to the dial using black PVD coated bridges. In a step away from tradition, only two bridges are used on the Neo Bridges. The design is eye-catching and still uses elements of classic Girard-Perregaux watchmaking.



Then next thing I noticed about the Neo Bridges was how lightweight the 45 mm case was. Girard-Perregaux decided to use titanium for the case of the Neo Bridges, but that is only part of the story as to why this watch only weighs 67 grams including the leather strap and deployant clasp. Sapphire is also generously used on the Neo Bridges including the very large front box crystal and display caseback. For being a larger watch, the Neo Bridges is really feather light.

The final thing I noticed during my initial time with the Neo Bridges was the other two main dial elements. Girard-Perregaux positioned the micro-rotor and the mainspring barrel along the same axis at 10 and 2 o'clock respectively. The gives the watch a very symmetrical design and each is mounted using bridge like mounts that continue the bridge aesthetic Girard-Perregaux is so well known for. While there isn't too much going on movement wise with the barrel, the micro-rotor sure is fun to get spinning dial side with a flick of the wrist.



Technical Specifications

Now that I've gone over my initial impressions of the Neo Bridges let's take some time to go over the technical specifications of the watch. The Neo Bridges is crafted out of titanium and has a case diameter of 45 mm and a lug to lug length of 51.6 mm. At its thickest point the Neo Bridges is 12.3 mm thick and weighs in at only 67 grams on our scale. This leads to a watch that while large is very thin and lightweight for its case size.

Girard-Perregaux uses a non-reflective box sapphire crystal on the Neo Bridges which allows for an amazing and un-restricted view of the stunning skeletonized dial. The box sapphire is so large that it looks like it could be half or more of the thickness of the titanium case. Under the sapphire you can see that the only real dial is a suspended ring around the outside that has applied hour markers, the Girard-Perregaux logo and Swiss Made 1791.

The applied hour markers have a stripe of lume applied to them that glow a brilliant green in low light situations. The skeletonized hour and minute hands centrally mounted on the middle bridge also get matching green lume applied to them. While the Neo Bridges isn't a lume monster, the watch does provide more than enough low light visibility. The brushed finishing of the hands also contrasts well with the PVD coated and NAC treated darkened movement components that makes legibility rather good especially for a skeletonized watch.



The two bridges and mountings for the mainspring barrel and micro-rotor have been PVD coated to a very dark grey near black color. The main plate on the other hand received NAC treatment and has more of an anthracite finish. These darker finishes make the hands and other movement components like gears, the balance, micro-rotor and mainspring barrel really stand out. Various jewels are also visible dial side which gives the rather monotone dial a nice punch of color.

If there is really one thing I love on the dial of a watch, it is movement. The Girard-Perregaux Neo Bridges does not disappoint here at all. The most visually arresting feature of the dial is the ever beating large variable-inertia balance wheel mounted to the lower bridge. Also underneath the centrally mounted hands is the gear train where you can see the gears turning at various rates. Finally any small movement of your wrist will send the micro-rotor mounted at 10 o'clock spinning around.

The titanium case of the Neo Bridges uses a mixture of polished and brushed finishes. The top and bottom of the lugs are polished as is the bezel of the caseback, while the side of the watch is brushed. The mixture of finishes really make the case of the Neo Bridges just that much more visually interesting.



Looking at the profile of the case you can see that the Neo Bridges has a rather flat shape with lugs that gradually slope down to your wrist. The right hand side features a fairly large and nicely scalloped crown that has an engraved Girard-Perregaux logo on top of it. The crown does not screw down and allows for manual winding of the automatic movement in the resting position. Pulling the crown out to the first and only position allows you to set the time. Pushing the crown back in causes no jump of the minute hand either. With a non-screw down crown the Girard-Perregaux Neo Bridges is rated with 30 meters of water resistance. Basically enough to get rained on or splashed, but not enough to be used while swimming or anything where the watch gets fully submerged.

The Neo Bridges has a lug width of 22 mm and comes on a black alligator strap that tapers down to 20 mm at the Girard-Perregaux branded titanium deployant clasp. The leather is extremely supple and didn't require much break-in to be comfortable. The black alligator strap has a slightly glossy appearance to it and gives the Neo Bridges a bit of a dressy look. The backing of the strap is a nice contrasting beige color. Finally the titanium butterfly deployant clasp is minimal in design and adds hardly any bulk or weight to the watch.



Flipping the watch over shows off the display caseback mounted with screws and featuring a large sapphire crystal. Underneath the sapphire is the in-house caliber GP08400-0001 Swiss Made automatic movement. The movement beats away at 21,600 VPH (3Hz) and has a power reserve around 48 hours. On our timegrapher the movement had an accuracy of +5 seconds per day when averaged out over several positions.

With so much going on dial side, there really isn't too much to see through the caseback. The lack of movement doesn't take away from the beautifully finished movement though. The most prominent feature is the Geneva Striping on the main plate. The exposed gears also feature circular graining which looks great in contrast to the striping. As with the front of the movement, Girard-Perregaux uses many jewels on the back of the movement which once again add a nice pop of color to the mostly grey movement.

On The Wrist

While the Neo Bridges isn't a sports watch, the large titanium case and skeleton dial does help the watch fit more into what I like personally. The watch does have the over 50 mm lug to lug length that I look for in watches along with a high-tech and lightweight titanium case. Against the trend on larger watches I do prefer a watch to be a bit thicker than the Neo Bridges is. The watch seems a bit less proportionate with its length and thickness than I typically like, but then again I'm used to 45 to 48 mm divers with 16 plus mm thick cases.



I also personally felt the black alligator leather strap was a bit too dressy for my aesthetic. Girard-Perregaux offers fabric and rubber straps on other watches in the Bridges collection that would suit me much more than the alligator strap, but that's personal preference. After wearing the watch out once or twice I got used to the dressier strap and really didn't think about it.

The 51.6 mm lug to lug length of the Neo Bridges covered my 7.25 inch wrist with a 55 mm flat area rather nicely. The watch never favored either side of my wrist over the other either. At 67 grams and having a rather large case diameter, the Neo Bridges pretty much completely disappears on the wrist. I wore it out to have one of our young twin daughters checked out by our pediatrician which turned into a 10 hour day going to the ER and the watch never became an annoyance or caused any wrist fatigue, I generally forgot it was there half the time. This was pretty much the experience I had with the Neo Bridges when running various daily errands with it as well.



To test a watch's legibility I try to see how hard it is to tell the time while driving at just a glance. Typically skeletonized watches do badly at this test since the contrast of the hands and dial is never that great. By making the top of the movement dark in color and using brushed finished metallic hands, the Neo Bridges actually provides good contrast between the dial and hands. While time wasn't as easy to tell at a glance as a dive watch, it really didn't take much time or effort to decipher then Neo Bridges quickly. Night time legibility is passable with just enough lume on the hour markers and hands to make low light time telling possible.

While wearing the Girard-Perregaux Neo Bridges out, I did notice the watch received a lot of looks. That didn't come as too much of a surprise since the watch has such a large dial that is surrounded by a huge sapphire box crystal and underneath is a stunning skeletonized movement featuring a beating exposed balance. I had a few people come up and ask about the watch and I also showed the watch to a few friends while out. Everyone just loved the skeleton dial and exposed movement components with most remarking on the balance and moving gears. People were also amazed with how light the Neo Bridges was.



Value and Position in the Market

As you can imagine the Neo Bridges with its in-house movement featuring a skeletonized dial and exposed balance doesn't come cheap. The retail price of the Neo Bridges is $31,100. For that price you are getting a lot of watch from one of the oldest and most respected names in watchmaking. Now would be a good time to compare some other watches that offer similar features and design to the Neo Bridges and see how the watch does value wise.

First up we have the Legacy Machine LM101 from MB&F which has a 40 mm case crafted out of stainless steel. The LM101 has a dial out of this world with a centrally mounted balance and two discs for time telling and running seconds. The LM101 is powered by an in-house manually wound movement with 45 hours of power reserve. The LM101 is a bit more expensive than the Neo Bridges at around $70,000.



Next up we have the Royal Oak Double Balance Wheel Openworked from Audemars Piguet which has a 41 mm case made out of stainless steel. The Royal Oak is fully skeletonized and has an exposed balance dial side. It is powered by an in-house automatic movement with 45 hours of power reserve. The retail price of the Royal Oak Double Balance Wheel Openworked is around $44,000 which is already more than the Neo Bridges, but it trades for well over two times that on the open market.

Moving on is the TONDA PF Skeleton from Parmigiani Fleurier which has a 40 mm case diameter and is made out of stainless steel and platinum. The TONDA PF has a fully skeletonized dial and runs on an in-house caliber PF777 automatic movement with 60 hours of power reserve. The TONDA PF Skeleton is much more expensive than the Neo Bridges at around $77,000.



Finally with have the Freak X from sister brand to Girard-Perregaux, Ulysse Nardin. The Freak X is crafted out of titanium and has a case diameter of 43 mm. The Freak X is more of the everyday Freak model which is set by a traditional crown and still features the dial side carrousel which does all the time telling duties. The Freak X is powered by an in-house automatic movement that has 72 hours of power reserve. The Freak X is a little bit less expensive than the Neo Bridges at $27,500.

Looking at the above four watches you can see that the Girard-Perregaux Neo Bridges provides excellent value. While some of the other watches cost much more than the Neo Bridges, none of them really offered anything exponentially better than the Girard-Perregaux. The Neo Bridges offers similar dial side views of movement components as the others and comes from one of the most respected watch manufactures and in all cases besides the Freak is the least expensive option as well.



Closing Thoughts

So in the end is the Girard-Perregaux Neo Bridges for me? I feel two small changes to the Neo Bridges would have made it a watch that fits nicely in my wheelhouse. First and the easiest to change, the strap… the black alligator leather strap is just too dressy for my tastes. The rubber and fabric straps offered on other watches in the Bridges collection would make the watch just that much more casual and fit my style of dress, mostly t-shirts, shorts and sneakers, that much better. Second the watch just felt a little too thin for my personal tastes, especially with an over 50 mm lug to lug length. Most people would view this as a positive, but I do prefer a slightly chunkier watch.

Otherwise the Neo Bridges checks off a lot of things I like in a personal watch, with the over 50 mm lug to lug length, titanium construction and all of movement on the dial. So for me personally the Neo Bridges isn't perfect for what I look for in a watch, but it is really close. I feel even just being on a different strap would probably have been enough for me to overlook the thinness of the watch.



So then would I recommend the Neo Bridges to somebody looking for a visually interesting watch from one of the top watch manufactures. I really would have no issue giving the Neo Bridges my full recommendation. The watch has a unique take on skeletonization and also takes the traditional three bridge design from Girard-Perregaux and modernizes it into a titanium and sapphire sandwich. The PVD coated bridges give a bit of an edge to the somewhat stuffy gold bridges Girard-Perregaux is known for. Having all the main movement components dial side also gives you a ton to look at while wearing the watch such as the micro-rotor, balance, mainspring barrel and gear train. The Neo Bridges is also extremely comfortable to wear and that big box sapphire crystal gives you un-obstructed views of the dial and all of the action taking place on it.

I would really like to thank Girard-Perregaux for sending us this Neo Bridges to review. This is now the second modern watch we've reviewed from the brand and both have been extremely well made pieces. I have always had a lot of respect for Girard-Perregaux and the Neo Bridges only re-enforces this train of thought. I really can't wait to see what we can review from them next.



For more information about the Neo Bridges please visit : Girard-Perregaux

Technical Specifications

Reference Number: 84000-21-001-BB6A

Retail Price: $31,100

Case Size: 45 mm

Lug to Lug: 51.6 mm

Thickness: 12.3 mm

Weight: 67 grams

Case Material: Titanium

Bezel: Titanium

Strap: Black Alligator Leather Strap with Titanium Deployant Clasp

Movement: GP08400-0001 Swiss Made Automatic

Functions: Hours, Minutes

Power Reserve: 48 Hours

Water Resistance: 30 Meters