Girard-Perregaux has relaunched its luxury sports watch, the Laureato, in a full-bodied collection spanning men’s and women’s watches. We’ve picked out the crucial references you need to know about
By Chris Hall
The sweet spot
Laureato 38mm in steel with blue dial
The new Laureato comes in four sizes, from 34mm up to 45mm, but we’re making an early call and saying that this, the 38mm is going to be the absolute sweet spot of the range. It’s being pushed as a unisex size, but the stainless steel with blue dial is the masculine side of the 38. It’s three millimetres smaller than last year’s limited edition but otherwise nigh-on indistinguishable (so if you shelled out last year on the premise of some kind of exclusivity, you’re liable to feel a bit disgruntled now), with the trusty calibre 3300 inside and 100m of water resistance. The date window matches the blue hobnail dial, and the mixture of brushing and polishing on the case and bracelet is spot on. This is gunning for the Royal Oak, hard.
The one that’s on-trend
Laureato 42mm titanium and pink gold
Bi-metal watches are on the way back – we said so in QP magazine last year and we’re seeing a steady drip-drop of launches bearing that out, as brands dare to mix their metals again. This time around, we’ve moved on from the very 90’s combo of steel and yellow gold; at Montblanc it’s bronze and steel, while here it’s titanium and pink gold. Mark our words, there will be more of this before the year is out.
The baby of the range
Laureato 34mm steel with gem-set bezel on leather strap
I know, I know, a proper sports-luxe watch should not be seen dead on a leather strap; the smooth integration of case and bracelet is everything in this game. And yet, we are prepared to offer a free pass to the littlest – and most feminine – Laureato, which comes with black or white leather straps (very Overseas, if we may say so) and in the full range of metals: steel; steel and gold or full pink gold, with white or anthracite grey dials. This gem-set steel with white dial on white leather is the one I’d pick out from the 34mm family. Inside is a G-P quartz movement (the brand does at least have some pedigree here too, having originally produced the Laureato as a quartz watch).
The haute horlogerie version
Laureato Tourbillon
At the head of the Laureato table is the 45mm Tourbillon. It’s available in titanium, bi-metal titanium and pink gold or white gold. In for a penny, in for a pound – the white gold, please. It’s pictured, and listed, on a black leather strap, but thankfully is available with a bracelet, either in white gold and titanium or pink gold and titanium. The one-minute tourbillon is held with a gold bridge, as you’d expect, from G-P, which is also either pink or white gold to match. It’s an in-house movement of course, calibre GP09510, powered by a gold micro-rotor.
The shrinking violet
Laureato 38mm in pink gold
Last but really, really, not least, this is the guilty pleasure of the range. Measuring 38mm in diameter and pink gold from head to toe, this puts the luxe in sports-luxe. Audemars Piguet is ploughing a lone furrow with the Royal Oak in full yellow gold, but this is not far behind in the boldness stakes (and a look that Vacheron Constantin has so far stopped short of offering with the new Overseas, at least in a men’s size). It won’t be the biggest-selling piece of the range, but it’s one we can’t wait to get on the wrist.
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