The Girard Perregaux Laureato’s Golden Jubilee Celebrations Continue With a New Enamel Dial and Steel Cases

An unvarnished truth: success in the watch industry often comes down to who has the deeper pockets. The victors are frequently the brands that shout the loudest and stage the most lavish events, all in the hopes of landing their watches on the wrists of our era’s tastemakers. A beautifully executed, technically sophisticated timepiece without the backing of a substantial marketing budget can easily become the horological equivalent of a tree falling in a forest, with no one around to hear it.

Since its management buyout in 2022, however, Girard-Perregaux has proven impossible to ignore. Once a brand that was gradually losing ground to its rivals, the La Chaux-de-Fonds manufacture has been raising its global visibility and demonstrating its ambitions, through a steady stream of high-complication creations and highly collectible limited editions.

Having firmly established itself in the fiercely contested integrated-bracelet sports watch segment, Girard-Perregaux now appears increasingly confident in challenging the category’s established heavyweights, including the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak (released in 1972), Patek Philippe Nautilus (1976) and IWC Ingenieur SL (1976).

Never Resting on Its Laurels

At the height of the Quartz Crisis, when traditional watchmakers responded with luxury sports watches crafted not in gold but steel, Girard-Perregaux’s chosen contender was the Laureato. Distinguished by its octagonal bezel set atop a circular plinth and tonneau-shaped case, the 1975 debutant would undergo significant evolutions in 1995, 2003 and 2016.

In 2025, the manufacture celebrated the Laureato’s golden jubilee with refined geometry and proportions, including more ergonomic lugs and a slimmer case measuring just 9.8mm thick. Limited to 200 pieces, the anniversary edition also debuted the in-house GP4800 movement with a silicon escapement, alongside a tapered bracelet fitted with a user-friendly, micro-adjustable, triple-folding clasp.

Produced entirely in-house, from conception to finishing, the Girard-Perregaux Laureato Fifty features no fewer than 10 distinct surface finishes—a mesmerizing hallmark of the Laureato collection.

The reinvigorated Laureato, however, arrived in a two-tone combination of yellow gold and stainless steel, prompting many enthusiasts to wonder whether a steel version, faithful to the spirit of the 1975 original, would eventually follow.

New Colours, New Sizes and the Option of Diamonds

Listening to its faithful collectors, Girard-Perregaux has now responded with four new Laureato Fifty references in 36mm and 39mm case sizes.

One 36mm variant features a rose gold-toned dial (US$23,100), while another pairs a silver dial with a bezel set with 64 brilliant-cut diamonds (US$24,200).

The 39mm duo comprises a rose gold-toned version (US$23,100) as well as a striking blue version (US$24,500) distinguished by a flinqué enamel dial applied over the Laureato’s signature Clous de Paris motif. This marks the first time the Laureato’s hobnail-patterned dial has been rendered in enamel, creating what many collectors regard as one of the most distinctive interpretations of the design to date.

At 9.8mm thick, all four models inherit the refined proportions introduced on the 2025 anniversary edition and are powered by Girard-Perregaux’s 4Hz GP4800 caliber. Offering 60 hours of power reserve, the movement also incorporates a ceramic ball bearing winding system. Two particularly noteworthy features are its balance bridge and rotor, which are crafted in 18k gold and can be admired through the sapphire caseback.

All four models feature a date window at 3 o’clock, with the exception of the enameled version, probably because of the difficulty involved in cutting an aperture on a delicate, wafer-thin flinqué enamel surface.

Above these dials sweep baton-style 18k gold hands coated with blue luminescent material.

“The Laureato endures through the strength of its architecture: a measured balance of lines and the movement within, naturally evolving with depth, presence and enduring character,” describes Marc Michel-Amadry, Managing Director of Girard-Perregaux.