The Quest for Perfection. Girard-Perregaux: a symbol of Swiss Haute Horlogerie for over two hundred years. In fact, it was created in Geneva in 1791 by the genius of Jean-François Bautte who, even in his twenties, created his first clocks in that year. His technical/artistic and entrepreneurial skills quickly led him to expand his fame and his business also abroad, even to be cited by important writers such as Pushkin and others.