Girard-Perregaux’s CEO Antonio Calce says that Laureato will be fundamental to the brand’s future. There’s no doubt that this sports watch is perfectly in tune with contemporary style, and it has distinctive looks, with its shaped integrated bracelet and octagonal bezel. It may have suffered, over the years, its similarity to other watches designed in the early 1970s, such as the Royal Oak by Audemars Piguet, but it has its own independent origins, and Girard-Perregaux are working hard on the Laureato both at the entry-level and top-of-the-range levels.
The Laureato began life as a series of drawings made in about 1971 by an architecture studio in Milan. A quirky fact in this story is that Girard-Perregaux don’t actually know who the architect was or is, they are still looking through their archives. The Laureato Skeleton has a particularly architectural feel, with the graceful curves of the skeletonized movement creating the perfect match for the lines of the case and bezel. The case is 42 mm in diameter and 10.88 mm thick, available in stainless steel or pink gold. The water resistance of the steel version is 100 metres, as a tribute to the watch’s sports origins; the pink gold version has a resistance of 50 metres. The dial is reduced to just an inner bezel flange with hour markers suspended in empty space, and the GP logo at 12 o’clock. The overall effect is beautiful in its simplicity, to my mind an exceptional piece of design.
In-house movement
The calibre GP01800-0006 is a skeletonized version of the GP1800, with some technical modifications, such as the variable-inertia balance visible at 12 o’clock. The movement has been opened up so that you can see right through the watch, and this effect is enhanced by the rotor in pink gold, also open-worked so as not to mar the view through the caseback. The curved metal bridges are chamfered with hand-finished polished edges that contrast with the satin brushed surfaces of the movement. Small seconds are shown on a subdial, perfectly integrated with the movement, at 10 o’clock. The balance runs at 28,800 vibrations per hour, 4 Hertz, and the mainspring visible at 5.30 provides 54 hours of power reserve.
Price and availability
The stainless steel version of the Girard-Perregaux Laureato Skeleton, reference 81015-11-001-11A, costs €33,100. The pink gold version, reference 81015-52-002-52A, costs €62,700. The watches are already available (from July 2017) at retailers. Further information from the Girard-Perregaux website.
