Girard-Perregaux Pays Tribute to the Year of the Horse with a Special La Esmeralda Tourbillon

Since yesterday, China has started the New Year festivities, celebrating the Year of the Horse. Like every year, we’re seeing watch brands launching dedicated limited editions, as listed here. A bit late to the show, Girard-Perregaux is presenting its own take on the concept. But what the brand has done is, undoubtedly, the most exclusive horse-themed timepiece of the year. As grand as it can get, here’s the Girard-Perregaux La Esmeralda Tourbillon “A Secret” Eternity Edition in red, a watch that combines traditional Chinese inspiration with high-end mechanics and artistic crafts. 

What we’re looking at is not very different from an existing model, which has been reviewed in this article. And it relies on one of the brand’s most emblematic designs, the historically important Esmeralda pocket watch and its three parallel bridges, patented by Constant Girard in 1884. Offered in different case materials and enamel colours since its release in 2021, the La Esmeralda Tourbillon “A Secret” Eternity Edition comes back this year in a time-relevant red edition, in time for the 2026 Year of the Horse festivities.

The case, like previous editions, measures 43mm in diameter and 15.1mm in thickness. Here presented in 18k pink gold, it is lavishly decorated, with the case, lugs, bezel, and buckle engraved by hand with leaf motifs, and the case middle is treated with red-coloured enamel that matches the dial. The back is no less interesting, with a secret cover, again hand-engraved and guilloché, then covered in red grand feu enamel. Once open, the latter hides a sapphire crystal that reveals the in-house calibre.

As a tribute to the 1889 La Esmeralda, three arrow-shaped gold mirror-polished bridges span the dial horizontally, with two hand-engraved gold horses perched on two bridges. The first bridge, positioned over the rhodium-plated barrel, features a horse on the right, while the third bridge over the tourbillon has the horse on the left. The area surrounding the vertical movement is decorated with circular guilloché and finished with red grand feu enamel. The tourbillon, positioned classically at 6 o’clock, rotates within a beautifully decorated lyre-shaped cage. The whole assembly, rotating once per minute, is made of 78 components and weighs just 0.3g. Time is indicated by dauphine-style hour and minute hands in pink gold, and a blued steel hand on the tourbillon to indicate the seconds.

On the back, once the secret cover is released, you’ll discover the in-house calibre GP09600, an automatic movement wound by a white gold micro-rotor. Beating at 21,600vph, the movement delivers a minimum power reserve of 50 hours when fully wound. The decoration is superb, with traditional hand-made finishes all around. The watch comes on a red alligator strap with an engraved pink gold buckle.

A limited edition of 18 pieces, the red-toned Girard-Perregaux La Esmeralda Tourbillon “A Secret” Eternity Edition for the Year of the Horse is priced at EUR 483,000. For more details, please visit girard-perregaux.com.