Hands On With The Girard-Perregaux Laureato ’50th Anniversary’

Earlier this October, Girard-Perregaux launched an anniversary edition of what is almost certainly its best known model: the Laureato, which debuted in 1975, at an interesting time and under interesting circumstances. The Laureato was one of the first generation of integrated bracelet luxury watches, but with some interesting differences between it, and the two other and better known such watches from the same era – the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, and the Patek Philippe Nautilus. Both of those watches were specifically designed to be produced in steel, which was an unusual elevation of what in watchmaking had until then, been considered a material not a match for luxury dress watches, and both the Nautilus and Royal Oak were automatic watches – powered, as a matter of fact, by the same movement, which was the Jaeger-LeCoultre caliber 920, which was used by Patek as the caliber 28-255, and by Audemars Piguet as the 2120/2i21.

The Laureato by contrast, was originally released in a gold and steel model, was quite small by modern standards (the first model was just 30mm, although it would go on to be made in 26mm and 35mm models as well) and it was powered by a quartz movement – the GP caliber 705, a certified chronometer, running at the now-standard frequency of 32,768 vph (the watch also had an antimagnetic plate under the dial; more details on the construction of the first Laureato and the caliber 705 can be found at The Naked Watchmaker.)

The name “Laureato” was a nickname given to the 1975 quartz chronometer by collectors (the watch simply said “quartz chronometer” on the dial) and the nickname became official in 1995, with the launch of the first Laureato with an automatic, in-house movement. This was the ref. 8010, which was released in a 36mm case and with the GP automatic caliber 3100. The decision to use quartz in 1975 would have been a logical one – watch brands, not just in Switzerland but around the world, were evaluating the relative merits of quartz, tuning fork, tuning-fork and quartz hybrid, and purely mechanical movements, although it was the rapid drop in the cost of production of quartz as well as its off-the-shelf high precision which would go on to make quartz the dominant watch technology. (For more info, see “The ‘Quartz Crisis’ And Swiss Watchmaking, Part I” courtesy the NAWCC).

Girard-Perregaux has had a long history of not just making movements for its own watches, but also supplying movements to the industry, and for the 50th Anniversary Laureato, GP introduced a new movement: the caliber 4400.

The anniversary Laureato has obvious connections to the original model, including the use of contrasting gold and steel in the bezel, case, and bracelet; the interlinks in the bracelet are gold capped steel and have a strong resemblance to the inlaid gold strips on the bracelet of the Quartz Chronometer from 1975. The anniversary model also reminds me very much of the ref. 8010, which was the first Laureato I saw in person in the late 1990s; it struck me as a very elegant watch then and still does, with the 39mm Anniversary model having much of the same sense of slightly rakish urbanity.

The 50th Anniversary model is 9.80mm thick, and naturally feels slightly more substantial than the 8010 although it does a fine job respecting the essential proportions of the design. This is not to say that the Laureato case can’t be used as a vehicle for complications; it certainly can be and GP has used it for complications up to and including tourbillons, but the relationship of the bezel to the tapering sides of the case seems to me to express itself with the greatest harmony in thinner and smaller cases. You never forget your first loves, though, and that is to some extent, a reflection of the great impression the ref. 8010 made on me more than a quarter century ago.

The 50th Anniversary Laureato despite its resemblance to my GP madeleine of nostalgia, the 8101, different in some subtle but significant respects. The most noticeable if you’re looking at specific differences in the details, is in the handling of the transitions from case top to case flank; in the 8010, edges in general are slightly rounder and there is a little bit more of a biomorphic feel, which goes along with the rounded gold interlinks, which in turn project proud of the surface of the bracelet. The 50th Anniversary when it comes to bracelets, actually feels a bit closer to the 1975 model, with its interlinks effectively on the same plane as the steel links.

The caliber 4400 has been designed to specifically reflect Girard-Perregaux’s history and institutional design codes; in particular, the rotor and the balance bridge are echoes of the Golden Bridges designs, and the movement is actually under three bridges – one for the mainspring barrel, one for the balance, and one for the automatic winding train and going train. The caliber 4800 in design and execution, feels very much an up-to-date modern movement, with its design driven by a well balanced combination of engineering and aesthetic considerations. When we first covered the the 50th Anniversary Laureato, we noted that while the escape wheel and lever are silicon, the balance spring is a conventional Nivarox-type alloy, and I think the addendum here is “for now,” – I think we can reasonably expect production to transition to the use of silicon balance springs at some point, probably in the not-too-distant future.

The 5oth Anniversary Laureato was for me an unqualified success, and not the least because it reminds me of the pleasure I got out of the 8010, back when I was much closer to the beginning of my interest in watches than I am now. While it’s true that there is a family resemblance between the Laureato and the Royal Oak I don’t think there is much more to it than that, and the 50th Anniversary Laureato, like its predecessors, very much has its own identity, both technically and as a design. I think casual elegance is a much harder thing to pull off than it looks when it’s done well, as it’s done here – in staying faithful to the spirit of the original, and of the classic from the 1990s, GP has also managed the challenging feat of bringing the idea of effortless sophistication into a modern design without it seeming forced or too tied to the past.

The Girard-Perregaux Laureato 50th Anniversary, ref. 81008-63-3412-1CM: case 39mm x 9.80mm, 3N yellow gold and steel; water resistance 150 meters; sunray grey dial with Clous de Paris (hobnail) pattern; gold plated hands and indexes with white emission lume. Movement, caliber GP4800, automatic with 3N yellow gold rotor; 25.60mm x 4.28mm, running at 28,800 vph in 19 jewels; power reserve, 55 hours. Limited edition of 200 pieces; price, $28,320. See more at Girard-Perregaux.com.