A CLASSIC NEVER DIES
After its renaissance in 2016, the steel sports model by Girard-Perregaux is experiencing a new lease of life this year. Available in a diameter suited to both men and women, the Laureato is now available as a complete collection.
In 1975, Girard-Perregaux asked a Milan architect to design a steel sports watch, resulting in the first Laureato, a piece with a strong character and rounded off by an octagonal bezel with curved edges. 41 years later, in 2016, the model was given a new lease of life to celebrate the 225th anniversary of the brand based in La Chaux-de-Fonds, before a complete collection was released and presented this year at the SIHH in Geneva. Among the new watches is the Laureato 42, a watch that has maintained its strong identity since the 1970s.
Thirty different watches have been added to the Girard-Perregaux catalogue in the Laureato range. With four different diameters, the watches are powered by self-winding or quartz movements or feature complications such as a tourbillon, and are available in several different metals (steel, pink gold, titanium). But the watch that seems to have had the most impact is the Laureato 42. The 42mm diameter of the watch case (with an interior width of 11mm) does indeed suit both women and men. The setting carved out of steel or titanium is topped by the famous octagonal crown with rounded angles, available in pink gold for the two-colour version. The crown enhances the watch face that comes in three colours (silver, slate grey or blue) with the Clous de Paris pattern, and housing an hour marker with surface-mounted arrow-shaped indexes, highlighted with a luminous coating. At the centre, two large silver and phosphorescent hands (or gold, for the titanium and pink gold model) display the hours and minutes, along with a second hand. The date is displayed in white on a background matching the watch face in a window at 3 o’clock.
These elements are driven by the GP01800-0008 calibre, a mechanical self-winding movement made by Girard-Perregaux, and which also provides a power reserve of 54 hours. The mechanism is partly visible thanks to a sapphire background adorning the back of the Laureato 42 watch case.
Price on request.
By Sharmila Bertin