Last year, Girard-Perregaux celebrated the milestone 50th anniversary of their iconic sports watch with the Laureato Fifty, a retro, bi-colour throwback to the earliest models. This year, they made the Laureato Fifty a welcome core collection hammering home why it’s a collectors’ darling among integrated bracelet sports watches. Now though, they’re bringing a complication to the nascent collection in the Laureato Fifty Tourbillon.
The Laureato Fifty was a breath of fresh air for Girard-Perregaux. The brand had seemed at a bit of a loss with what to do with itself and that anniversary piece – and subsequent core 39mm and 36mm models – was just what we wanted from them, all sporty facets and dramatic Clous de Paris. It proved that new MD Marc Michel-Amadry knew what he was doing. But Girard-Perregaux is a haute horology brand, and these days what is that without a flagship tourbillon?
The new Laureato Fifty Tourbillon takes the blueprint of the standard Laureato Fifty 39mm, that two-level, octagon-in-a-circle bezel and guilloche dial and puts a tourbillon at 6 o’clock. But it does so in the most Girard-Perregaux way possible. Held in place by a striking, arrow shaped bridge lifted from the Three Golden Bridges and a lyre-shaped tourbillon cage, the structure holding the tourbillon is as much a statement as the complication itself. If you have to interrupt a dial as magnificent as this deep, precise Clous de Paris, this is how you do it.
That tourbillon is powered by the new GP8410 calibre, which not only leverages the chronometric support of a 60-second tourbillon, but also includes a micro-rotor. Just as importantly, it’s beautiful. The uninterrupted bridges mirror the guilloche of the dial while the rotor itself is made from a combination of rose gold and platinum for visual as well as physical weight. It also offers a 72-hour power reserve, solid for a micro-rotor movement and, more importantly, is just 6.1mm high.
6.1mm is extraordinarily slim for a tourbillon movement and while it’s not competing with the likes of Piaget and Bulgari, it means the total thickness of the Laureato Fifty Tourbillon stays at 10mm. That’s a lot to pack into a small space and Girard-Perregaux have done it without compromising the Laureato’s sporty silhouette.
The Laureato Fifty Tourbillion is available in two versions, one with a blue enamel dial, the other with a salmon-adjacent solid rose gold dial. Both versions have 39mm stainless steel cases with 50m water resistance (a substantial drop from the 150m of the automatic models), and both come qith signature Laureato bracelets featuring up to 4mm of micro-adjustment. That all adds up to a very sporty tourbillon.
Not that you’d necessarily want to treat it like a sports watch; the Laureato Fifty Tourbillon is still a tourbillon, and one that will set you back £75,500 for the gold dial and £79,100 for the slightly more involved blue enamel.
Price and Specs:
More details at Girard-Perregaux.
