By Magnus Salbu
At SIHH 2017, Girard-Perregaux had some really exiting pieces to show us. One of them was the 42mm version of the Laureato that was released at last year’s SIHH. They also showed us a 34mm version as well as a 45mm tourbillon Laureato.
The 42mm Laureato is more or less identical to last year’s 40mm. Girard-Perregaux has done a good job of capturing the 70’s style of the original Laureato in this new version. The dial is with the iconic Clous de Paris pattern and has a huge GP logo on 12 o’clock. It has baton hands and hour markers filled with luminescent material. The dial comes in variations of silver tone, slate grey, and blue. The case and bracelet is has polished center links and brushed outer links, the case is a nice combination of brushed and polished stainless steel as well. Now we get to the bezel, and I know a lot of you are going to say Girard Perregaux have copied Audemars Piguet Royal Oak with this watch. And while it is true that the Royal Oak has a similar bezel, dial, hands, and placement of the logo, this was the style in the 1970’s. A lot of watches looked like this. The bezel consists of an octagonal ring placed on top of a round plateau of sorts. The case comes in steel, titanium and red gold/titanium.
Now, in my opinion, the movement is the star of the show on this watch. All variations of the new Laureato are equipped with the GP01800 movement. This is a superbly finished movement with an impressive 54 hours of power reserve. It beats at 4 hertz and has an automatic winding system. This movement is just under 4mm thick but due to the high bezel and steep rehaut, the watch comes in at just under 11mm. Which isn’t particularly thin for such a watch, but it’s certainly not too thick either. The movement is, of course, developed fully in-house, design and production is also done in-house. It has a perliage finish around the outer edge and regular Côtes de Genève on the bridges, where one also finds the Geneva Seal. The rotor features circular Côtes de Genève and an engraved Girard-Perregaux eagle.
The Girard-Perregaux Laureato 42mm comes on either a bracelet or a strap and the price is 10.370 CHF excluding the Swiss sales tax of 8%. For more info, please visit girard-perregaux.com
