Description
Girard-Perregaux is turning the Laureato Fifty from an anniversary statement into a permanent pillar. Four new stainless steel references join the collection that celebrates 50 years of the original 1975 Laureato: a 39mm with a blue grand feu enamel dial over the Clous de Paris motif, 39mm and 36mm versions with rose-gold-toned hobnail dials, and a 36mm with a silver-toned dial and a diamond-set bezel. The 36mm case size is new to the Fifty line, broadening it considerably.
The technical story is just as significant: every reference carries the calibre GP4800, the manufacture's latest-generation automatic movement with a silicon escapement, variable-inertia balance and ceramic ball bearings in the winding system. Prices run from CHF 20,500 for the rose-gold-toned dials (about USD 23,100) to CHF 21,800 for the enamel flagship (about USD 24,500), and all four are part of the permanent collection.
Design
The Laureato geometry is untouched — the octagonal bezel on a circular base over a tonneau-shaped middle case, in brushed and polished steel, now a uniform 9.8mm thick with 150m of water resistance and sapphire crystals front and back. The integrated bracelet gains a triple-folding clasp with a 4mm micro-adjustment system, a small but overdue comfort upgrade.
The blue enamel dial is the headline execution: translucent grand feu enamel fired over the Clous de Paris hobnail pattern, so the texture reads through shifting shades of blue as the light moves — enamel craft, normally the preserve of dress watches, applied to an integrated-bracelet sports watch. Notably, the enamel version omits the date for a cleaner dial. The rose-gold-toned and silver-toned versions keep the classic hobnail guilloché with applied gold indices and luminous-filled hands; the 36mm silver model frames its dial with 64 brilliant-cut diamonds totalling approximately 0.55 carats.
Specifications
- References: 1008-11-3530-1CM (39mm blue enamel), 1008-11-3627-1CM (39mm rose-gold-toned), 1006-11-3626-1CM (36mm rose-gold-toned), 1006-11S3597-1CM (36mm silver, diamond-set bezel)
- Case diameter: 39mm or 36mm
- Case thickness: 9.8mm
- Case material: stainless steel, brushed and polished; octagonal bezel
- Crystal: sapphire front and back
- Water resistance: 150m
- Dial: blue grand feu enamel over Clous de Paris (39mm, no date); rose-gold-toned Clous de Paris (39mm and 36mm); silver-toned Clous de Paris with 64-diamond bezel, ~0.55ct (36mm); applied gold indices, luminescent hands
- Movement: calibre GP4800, manufacture automatic
- Escapement: silicon escapement, variable-inertia balance, ceramic ball bearings for the winding system
- Frequency: 28,800vph (4Hz)
- Power reserve: approximately 60 hours
- Finishing: Geneva stripes, anglage, circular graining, rose-gold balance bridge, visible through sapphire caseback
- Bracelet: integrated stainless steel, triple-folding clasp with 4mm micro-adjustment
- Limited edition: no — permanent collection
- Price: CHF 20,500 (rose-gold-toned 39mm and 36mm, ~USD 23,100), CHF 21,800 (39mm blue enamel, ~USD 24,500), CHF 21,500 (36mm diamond-set, ~USD 24,200)
- Availability: now, via Girard-Perregaux boutiques, retailers and girard-perregaux.com
What's Exciting
The 1975 Laureato has always lived in the shadow of the Royal Oak and Nautilus in the integrated-sports-watch conversation, despite being one of the category's founding designs — and arguably its best value today. These four references attack that gap on substance: grand feu enamel on a sports watch is something neither Audemars Piguet nor Patek Philippe offers in their core steel collections, and the GP4800 — silicon escapement, variable-inertia balance, ceramic bearings — is a thoroughly modern engine where some competitors still run decades-old architectures. At CHF 21,800, the enamel Laureato undercuts the plainest steel Royal Oak by a wide margin while carrying a dial technique that takes a kiln and nerve to produce.
The 36mm case is the quiet strategic move: it opens the Fifty to smaller wrists and to the fast-growing unisex segment without diluting the design — and with the same movement, not a downgraded one. That is how you grow a collection properly.
History
Girard-Perregaux, founded in 1791 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, is among the oldest continuously operating fine watchmakers, with the 1966 observatory chronometer and the three-bridge tourbillon among its landmarks. The Laureato arrived in 1975 — designed around an octagonal bezel on a circular base, an integrated bracelet and a quartz movement at launch — making it one of the founding designs of the integrated-bracelet sports watch category alongside the 1972 Royal Oak and 1976 Nautilus. The Laureato Fifty collection, introduced for the model's 50th anniversary, distils that 1975 blueprint into its modern flagship form; with these four references, it graduates from anniversary celebration to permanent family, now spanning 36mm to 39mm and from enamel métiers d'art to diamond-set executions.
