Half a century after the original Laureato redefined elegant sports watches, Girard-Perregaux marks the anniversary with something genuinely significant: the debut of an entirely new movement, the GP4800, fitted into the Laureato Fifty – a quiet revolution for the manufacture’s most iconic design.
Measuring just 25.60mm in diameter and 4.28mm thick, the silicon-escapement calibre GP4800 responds to the market’s growing appetite for slimmer cases without compromising on horological substance. Every component of the escapement – escape wheel, pallet lever, roller – is fashioned from silicium, that wonder material of modern watchmaking whose properties read like a wish list: smooth, hard, durable, low-friction, non-magnetic, wear-resistant. Accuracy is further enhanced by a variable-inertia balance featuring four white gold timing screws mounted on the rim, eschewing the traditional raquette system.
But here’s what makes the GP4800 genuinely remarkable, it’s the first “simple” movement – hours, minutes, seconds, date – to incorporate Girard-Perregaux’s legendary Three Bridges architecture. Since 1867, when Constant Girard aligned barrel, gear train and tourbillon on a single axis beneath three parallel bridges, this design has been the manufacture’s calling card, typically reserved for complications of considerable complexity. Now, through the skeletonised 18kt gold oscillating mass, one can glimpse those three bridges in perfect symmetry.
The new Girard-Perregaux calibre GP4800 stands out for its accomplished escapement and three-bridges architecture.
The movement delivers a minimum 55-hour power reserve thanks to significant mainspring torque, while an upgraded winding system with a ball bearing-mounted oscillating mass improves shock absorption and reduces winding noise. A stop-seconds function allows precise time-setting. Beyond the technical specifications, the finishings do catch one’s attention: ten distinct methods including golden inscriptions, diamond-bevelled edges, mirror-polished screw heads, refined sandblasted textures, circular graining. Small, perhaps. But decidedly not simple.
The Laureato Fifty itself – limited to 200 pieces – provides the perfect showcase. The 39mm case in steel and 3N yellow gold echoes the bicolour original from 1975, but with a contemporary makeover: sharper angles, more pronounced bevels and smoother bracelet integration. That iconic octagonal bezel alternates satin and polished finishes, creating sophisticated interplay with light. The deep sunray grey dial features Clous de Paris guilloche and 3N gold indexes, while the central seconds hand bears GP’s double-arrow emblem as a counterweight.
Paying homage to the original Girard-Perregaux Laureato from 1975, the new Laureato Fifty follows a bicolour aesthetic and features an ‘H’ link bracelet. The open caseback allows viewer to admire its new silicium escapement.
The integrated bracelet demonstrates the kind of obsessive attention that separates haute horlogerie from standard manufacture work. Tapered steel ‘H’ links grow progressively thinner toward the clasp, now slightly shorter to hug the wrist more naturally. The triple folding clasp incorporates a 4mm fine adjustment system and octagonal push-pieces that echo the bezel.
Fifty years on, the Laureato remains as innovative and relevant as when it first debuted, setting the tone for luxury sport watches of its era. With the GP4800, Girard-Perregaux has extended its finest movement tradition beyond the rarefied world of tourbillons into everyday wear. Vision with just the right touch of nostalgia.
Author: Nick Scott
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