The more artificial intelligence takes over our lives, the more valuable the human hand becomes. That is Marc Michel-Amadry’s theory, and a fitting one to apply at Girard-Perregaux, a 235-year-old watchmaker trying to keep itself relevant.
As managing director of the Swiss watch maison, Michel-Amadry believes the future of watchmaking lies, paradoxically, in looking back, towards the human skills and mechanical ingenuity that are becoming increasingly rare in a world of mass production and artificial intelligence.
“The more crazy we go with technology and AI running our lives, the more important this connection to heritage, to human craftsmanship becomes,” he says.
Michel-Amadry joined Girard-Perregaux in February 2025, following senior roles in the watch industry and at Sotheby’s. His brief is not to reinvent the manufacture, but to restore it to the level of recognition he believes its history deserves.
“I have only one ambition: to reveal Girard-Perregaux for what it is and for the values that have always nourished it,” he says. Those values stretch back to Jean-François Bautte, who brought watchmakers, engravers, goldsmiths, jewellers and enamellers under one roof in Geneva in the late 1700s. Rather than relying on a network of specialist workshops, Bautte understood that excellence could be better served by having his artisans work together. That spirit remains central to Michel-Amadry’s vision. “We have been a manufacturer since 1791, and are deeply rooted yet free.”
The distinction matters. Girard-Perregaux is an independent house, able to develop movements, cases and designs completely in-house without being trapped by its history – or being beholden to a parent company. With only Ulysse Nardin as a stablemate, Michel-Amadry sees that independence as increasingly important to collectors looking beyond the obvious names.
“The beauty of our maison is that it has 235 years of history,” he says. “We are at the same level of legacy as Vacheron Constantin and Patek Philippe, but we have this freedom and this independent position.”
The Middle East, with its sophisticated community of collectors, is naturally important to this strategy. But Michel-Amadry believes the region should not be viewed in isolation. “Today, the impact of watchmaking, and horology in particular, is everywhere,” he says. “Wherever you are, in China, Dubai or New York, the level of knowledge, the level of sophistication collectors share and know about our industry is fascinating. Sometimes they know more than me,” he adds with a laugh.
What particularly interests him is the changing relationship between technology and craftsmanship. As artificial intelligence and algorithms become embedded in everyday life, he believes the appeal of something made by hand will only grow. “Girard-Perregaux believes very much in AI, but as artisanal intelligence,” he says.
That means maintaining skills many contemporary manufacturers might outsource. Enamelling is still carried out in-house, for example, while the maison supports an engraving school in La Chaux-de-Fonds, helping preserve an exacting discipline practised by an increasingly small pool of craftspeople.
“Hand-engraving is a magnificent skill, but there are very few people who do it,” he says. “We cannot afford to let this knowledge disappear.” The result is craftsmanship that is deliberately human rather than mechanically immaculate. “People are craving artistry,” he adds. “It is perfect, but it’s not machine-perfect. And that is what makes it beautiful.”
Few objects demonstrate this philosophy better than Girard-Perregaux’s La Esmeralda tourbillon, a contemporary timepiece inspired by the pocket watch of the same name that won a gold medal back at the 1889 Paris Universal Exhibition. Its elaborate enamelling and finishing demanded patience and precision, and its modern iteration is no less painstakingly assembled.
The same philosophy applies to the maison’s movements. Its grand complications are individually signed by the master watchmaker who creates them, something Michel-Amadry sees as a declaration of authorship as much as of craftsmanship. “We want that level of hand-finishing in our movements, in our cases, everything. We don’t compromise on this,” he says.
This fixation on quality runs through Michel-Amadry’s ambitions for the maison. He has previously said Girard-Perregaux deserves to be “not bigger, but better known”. Its clients, he believes, are drawn by a deep appreciation of “all the work that has been done, from the design to the development to the finishing.
“We want to bring a different status to the people who embark into Girard-Perregaux. “It is not about saying: ‘I’m rich. I’m powerful.’ It’s more about: ‘I know how this watch has been made and it has been made uncompromisingly.’”
That philosophy also informs how Girard-Perregaux wants collectors to encounter the brand. At its headquarters, visitors can meet watchmakers directly rather than simply observing the manufacturing process through glass. Its villa is part museum, part private house and part destination. Visitors eat meals prepared by an in-house chef, wander through the workshops and encounter beehives in the gardens, with jars of honey given to departing guests. It is an unusually personal approach for a luxury house.
“It is a place where you will not only meet a brand, an idea and a field of horology, but you will also meet people,” Michel-Amadry says. Even its new Geneva boutique was designed internally by the brand’s chief marketing officer, who has an architectural background. “Who else can best incarnate what we want to stand for than us?” Michel-Amadry notes.
That instinct is embedded in Girard-Perregaux’s history. One obvious example is the Laureato, which recently celebrated its 50th anniversary. Introduced in 1975, the sports watch is defined by its eight-sided bezel designed in-house. Michel-Amadry believes its longevity comes from its ability to evolve without losing its distinctive identity: a Laureato from the 1980s can sit comfortably beside one made today.
“It’s not about having the latest Laureato versus a beautiful Laureato from 1985 or 1992,” he says. “They are all relevant, and we are seriously proud of that.”
The watch’s importance extends beyond design. The Laureato was created during an era when the industry grappled with the arrival of quartz, and Girard-Perregaux embraced the technology, creating the Calibre 350 in 1971, which set the standard for the now familiar frequency of 32,768Hz. When the Laureato launched four years later, it was powered by its descendant, the Calibre 705.
For Michel-Amadry, it is a reminder that heritage and innovation are inseparable at Girard-Perregaux. Its history is not simply a catalogue of old watches to revisit, but also a record of horological experimentation.
Perhaps the clearest expression of this is the Three Bridges. First conceived by Constant Girard in 1867, it transformed a conventional movement by placing its components beneath three distinctive bridges. Rather than hiding the mechanics beneath the dial, Girard revealed them.
“It was more than skeletonisation,” Michel-Amadry says. “It was to change the whole view on how you create a movement: to show, to make the invisible visible, and to reveal the beauty within.” Patented in 1884, the design remains a signature and was reinterpreted for the Laureato 50th Anniversary Three Gold Bridges. Limited to 50 pieces, it unites two strands of Girard-Perregaux’s visual language in one watch.
Michel-Amadry’s ambition for the house may also be more personal. Born in La Chaux-de-Fonds himself, he was drawn to Girard-Perregaux long before joining the company.
For his 40th birthday, he bought himself a Girard-Perregaux WW.TC chronograph. “This was my celebration,” he says of the milestone. “I felt the watch was absolutely exceptional.” It’s hard to imagine someone more invested in the watchmaker’s next chapter.