Aston Martin And Girard-Perregaux Are Teaming Up

Watches and motorsports – a symbiotic relationship that's worked for decades. In fact, automotive partnerships with time-keeping instrument manufacturers go back to right around the turn of the last century, when the car as we know it was replacing the horse – and the watch was creeping out of pockets and onto wrists.

But it took until 2021 for two of the oldest brands in both horology and automotive to come together. Aston Martin and Girard-Perregaux are officially partners.

Historically, watch partnerships fuel motorsport – both monetarily and philosophically – and motorsport inspires watch design. The Aston Martin Girard-Perregaux partnership spawned the Tourbillon with Three Flying Bridges – Aston Martin Edition. The watch encapsulates the philosophies of each brand and honors Girard-Perregaux's Three Bridges pocket watch, a storied 19th-century design. Aston Martin is much younger than its new partner, but when compared to the larger crop of automakers is one of the oldest English marques, having built their first car in 1915.

The partnership includes Aston Martin Lagonda and Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team. You'll see the Girard-Perregaux logo on the Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team car, of course, but you'll also see the watches on the wrists of the drivers as well. Sebastian Vettel wears his Laureato frequently. "To be honest, I don't even know if it's part of the contract," says Patrick Pruniaux, CEO of Girard-Perregaux. "I just want him to love the watch,"

Patrick Pruniaux

When Pruniaux and I spoke, he acknowledged that a partnership between a watch and car brand is nothing new, saying, "It's a natural fit. Every CEO signing a partnership will tell you that. But this one really is different. There isn't a better fit in terms of history and brand values." And he's very convincing.

Before Girard-Perregaux, Pruniaux worked at Apple, where he focused on the Apple Watch. Although a storied Swiss watchmaker and a trendy tech company seem on opposite ends of the spectrum, Pruniaux has found a common thread, saying, "there are more similarities than people might think. Deliberate, significant passion. At Girard-Perregaux, it reminds me of the same thing I saw at Apple. There's a ton of passion in the product."

That passion is evident in both brands. They each pay tribute to the past – creating objects that are built on a larger, long-standing legacy – and celebrating the contemporary twists they put on their products.

Philosophically, there are congruent parts of the design process too. "You don't try to sell an iPhone – you just want to make sure people use them properly. The product speaks for itself. The watch is the same way. We want people to wear them. It's important for us not to just make a piece of art, we want to make a very useful piece of art."

Girard-perregaux