The New Girard-Perregaux Laureato

The New Girard-Perregaux Laureato

It joined the quartz race and made sure to take the first prize. In 1975, it launched the first Laureato, appearing in a two-tone version in the desired metal fashion. Against the brushed steel, 18K gold came.

Save for a date window at 3 o’clock, the dial was white and simple, decorated with Clous de Paris embossing and bore the words ‹Quartz Chronometer›. Powering this timepiece was the caliber 705, an in-house movement that beat at a blistering 32,768 Hz.

Design Shift

Before the 1970s, there were dress watches, typically crafted in gold or platinum, and rugged steel tool watches for adventurous pursuits such as diving or race-car driving. That all changed when collectors began seeking out timepieces with the versatility to transition easily from the weekday to the weekend.

For its part, Girard-Perregaux enlisted an Italian architect based in Milan to research and design a new case and bracelet that would be as revolutionary as their newly developed quartz movement.

Immediately, the architect decided that the bezel had to be the Laureato’s distinctive feature, and it remains so to this day. Its octagonal shape is inscribed in a circle, and for maximum play on light, the angles of the octagon are linked by polished curves. In 2017, the Girard-Perregaux Laureato, an icon of horological design, finally graduated to become a complete collection.

Complete Collection

For the first time, the year 2017 saw a true strategy based on the iconic Laureato developed. GP teams set out to build a complete family of Laureatos for modern tastes and watch-collecting habits.

This meant proposing a good range of sizes; a variety of cases, bracelets, and strap options; and, on the smaller models’ bezels, a bit of discreet Swiss bling.

Winning Favor

There is a 34 mm size clearly intended for women; a 38 mm midsize, capitalizing on the current trend in favor of vintage sizing, that can go either way; and a 42 mm version aimed at winning favor with the traditional male collector set.

At the smallest end of the range is the 34 mm quartz Laureato for women. With ist quartz crystal oscillator and COSC certification, this timepiece has the most direct lineage to the original Laureato.

Girard Perregaux continues to manufacture quartz movements in-house in La Chaux-de-Fonds (pictured below), complete with the the perlage and beveling that characterize its mechanical offerings.

Timelessness Design

Across the collection, a visual consistency prevails. The Laureato is an eight-sided sport-luxury watch that recalls its 1970s origins while asserting its relevance through the timelessness of its design and the quality of its construction.

On all the new models, a hobnail pattern with rich depth and texture defines the legible, instrument-like dials. The hours – save 12 o’clock, which bears an applied GP log – are punctuated by large, luminescent stick markers that match the hour and minute hands. The 42 mm and 38 mm mechanical options are each water-resistant to 100 meters.

This is a large collection that is designed to give collectors plenty of options. Diamonds begin to make their way onto the collection’s bezels starting with two versions of the 38 mm unisex size, and by the time you get to the 34 mm ladies’ size, all but one of the versions – a two-tone model matching rose gold and titanium – are set with glimmering stones.

While the 2017 SIHH was regarded as a strong commercial showing for the Chaux-de-Fonds brand, the adoption of a new in-house movement and the debut of an affordably priced tourbillon are achievements that can hardly materialize without heavy investment.

New Materials

The company also innovates through the use of new materials like silicon in its Constant Girard escapement, which took the top prize at 2013’s Geneva Grand Prix.

The R&D department is the heart of the GP’s manufacture, which means that innovation is a major objective that the company set for itself daily. The history of Girard-Perregaux also demonstrates this. The brand has always attached importance to innovation (more than 80 patents) and continues on this path.

In-House Movements

When collectors talk about in-house movements, Girard-Perregaux is a brand that can’t be left out of the conversation. The Chaux-de-Fonds manufacture has weathered the ups and downs of recessions and the quartz crisis by continually adapting and asserting its independence.

That quality even included developing its own quartz movement when its Swiss brethren mounted a collective front to the onslaught of Japanese technology.

Quality of Independence

Girard-Perregaux ended up producing a superior movement and frequency that the entire Swiss industry was to adopt. This quality of independence continues to the present: Girard-Perregaux is one of the few Swiss watchmakers that make quartz movements inhouse today.

Betting a manufacture of its ilk, Girard-Perregaux finishes its quartz movement plates with traditional methods, treating them with the same level of care and respect that it does the mechanical calibers.