Girard-Perregaux’s Laureato FIFTY Celebrates Five Decades of Integrated Elegance
The 200-piece limited edition honors the 1975 original’s while sporting the Maison’s brand new GP4800 movement.
Summary
- Girard-Perregaux releases the Laureato FIFTY in celebration of the model’s 50th anniversary
- Housed in a 39mm steel and 3N gold case, the timepiece is powered by the new GP4800 automatic caliber
- Limited to 200 examples; priced at $28,320 USD
Girard-Perregaux is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its iconic Laureato watch with a limited edition of 200 pieces, aptly named the Laureato FIFTY. Originally launched in 1975 as one of the first elegant sports watches with an integrated bracelet and chronometer-certified quartz caliber, the Laureato FIFTY pays vibrant tribute to its heritage while projecting the Manufacture into tomorrow’s watchmaking landscape.
Girard-Perregaux’s legacy as a Manufacture of Design and Movements dates back to 1791. The brand distinguished itself early on by adopting a high level of vertical integration and the “manufacture model” from the start of the industrial revolution, choosing to bring all stages of production in-house. This spirit of innovation and integration led to key milestones. The Laureato first emerged from this ethos after a pioneering quartz R&D effort in the late 1960s, culminating in the GP350 caliber, which set the industry standard 32,768 Hz frequency, complete with a fluid, octagonal bezel that established the refined luxury benchmark for integrated sportswatches.
Girard-Perregaux
Girard-Perregaux
In contrast to other contemporaries at the time, the Laureato favored precision, balance as well as elegance — embodying a new and more refined luxury while also serving as a trendsetter from its 1975 launch, which also happened to be the only model in that era to be fully designed internally. This long history of technical mastery and distinctive design underscores the importance of the Laureato FIFTY as a manifesto for the company, combining past and future, heritage and innovation.
Now, the Laureato FIFTY distills these historic cues into a profile of 39mm in case diameter and 9.8mm in thinness. Its steel and 3N yellow gold tonneau case boasts a polished finish that harks back to the original bicolor models, while also sharpening angles and bevels for a contemporary edge. Its alternating satin-brushed and polished octagonal bezel frames a deep sunray-grey dial embossed with a Clous de Paris pattern, applied 3N gold-plated pink gold indexes and sword-hands, plus a gold “double-arrow” counterweight on the central seconds and a dial-matched date aperture at 3 o’clock. Flat sapphire crystals front and back enhance visual finesse, complete with 150 meters of water resistance.
On the wrist, a tapered steel-and-gold “H”-link bracelet echoes the original’s bicolor design, now with shorter links, half-link micro-adjustment and a triple-folding clasp featuring octagonal push-pieces and a 4 mm fine-tuning system. Through its sapphire caseback, the Manufacture’s new GP4800 automatic caliber is revealed — complete with silicium escapement, variable-inertia balance, 10 distinct finishes and a 55-hour power reserve.
Priced at $28,320 USD, the Laureato FIFTY will be available via the brand as well as authorized retailers.
