Hands-On The Girard-Perregaux Laureato Fifty Collection

There aren’t many watch collections strong enough to survive to their 50th anniversary, but when they do, it’s for a very good reason. Last year, the Girard-Perregaux Laureato did exactly that, celebrating its half-century with the arrival of The Fifty, a 200-piece limited edition that ushered in a new generation of the integrated sports watch from both a design and technical perspective. It was powered by a new movement in the Girard-Perregaux Calibre GP4800, and arrived in a 39mm case size that had been refined compared to the previous generation with harder angles, a more pronounced bezel, and wider polished bevels on the edges of the case.

Now in 2026, if The Fifty limited edition was an appetiser for the most loyal collectors of the brand, the main course has arrived with four new Laureato Fifty references that will form a permanent part of Girard-Perregaux’s collection. With two new versions in 39mm and another pair with 36mm cases, the quartet also offers the choice of solid rose gold dials (39mm and 36mm), a silvered dial framed by 64 brilliant-cut diamonds (36mm), and a particularly good-looking deep blue flinqué enamel dial (39mm). 

Before we get to what’s new in the Laureato collection, it’s worth taking a step back to understand how we got here, because as a part of my appointment to get hands-on with the novelties, I was excited to see the Girard-Perregaux team had sourced four vintage references that chart the lineage of what we now call the Laureato, which dated back to the Girard-Perregaux Quartz Chronometer that started it all in 1975.

The 1970s were a period of serious turmoil for the Swiss watch industry, as it grappled with the arrival of quartz timekeeping technology that had arrived on the market in Japan on Christmas Day of 1969. While many watchmakers were resistant to the innovation, Girard-Perregaux found itself in a comparably strong position thanks to the opening of its own research and development department focused on quartz technology back in 1966. By 1971, the brand had developed the first Swiss-made quartz movement that was able to be serially produced, and, as well as being chronometer-certified, the GP350 calibre ticked away at 32,768Hz – a rate that has since become standard across the entire industry. As a point of historical comparison, the Beta 21 (developed by a consortium of more than a dozen Swiss watchmakers that included Patek Philippe, Rolex, and Omega) beat at just 8,192Hz, was much larger in size, and initially wasn’t suitable for large-scale production.

The GP350 calibre-powered Girard-Perregaux Quartz Chronometer already carried a few of the design details we still associate with the Laureato collection today, including the octagonal bezel on a circular base and the integrated bracelet. Interestingly, the Laureato name was born after it had enjoyed a period of commercial success, when a group of Italian collectors began referring to it as il laureato (“the graduate” in Italian), which is understood to have been given because the collection “graduated” with COSC certification – a rare distinction at the time. Ever close to the collecting community, Girard-Perregaux became aware of this nickname and went on to officially adopt the Laureato moniker for future generations of the collection.

The other three vintage references that the Girard-Perregaux team showed me each exemplified a period of the collection’s development, including the quartz-powered Equation Perpétuelle from the mid-1980s that had indicators for the date, moonphase, leap year, and, most interestingly, the Zodiac signs. The Laureato Olimpico Chronograph ref. 8017 represents the 1990s and is one of the first references that had the classic H-link shaped integrated bracelet design we still see today, while the Girard-Perregaux Laureato Evo3 ref. 80185, with a large date display at 12 o’clock, is a classic of its 00s/10s era, with almost every element of its design increased in size and proportion. There have been a few other generations of Laureato since the Evo3, but the changes between them were increasingly iterative as the design approached the form we see today, with the arrival of the Laureato Fifty as the latest and arguably most refined version of the collection we’ve ever seen.

One of the first things that’s worth noting about the new Laureato Fifty collection is the case sizes, with the 39mm and 36mm diameters building on the existing catalogue that already includes 34mm, 38mm, and 42mm options. They’re numbers that make perfect sense as 39mm and 36mm diameters already are some of the most familiar case sizes to collectors, but what’s more exciting is that Girard-Perregaux has managed to further slim the cases of both, now measuring 9.8mm in thickness, which is down slightly from the 10.68mm of the 42mm references and the 10mm of the 38mm references.

For most folks, these are just about perfect proportions for a comfortable everyday watch, especially when combined with a bracelet that’s thinner in height than previous generations, tapers more swiftly from the case to the clasp, and features a micro-adjust mechanism with 4mm of room to play with. Perhaps the only thing to note is that because of the way the bracelet is integrated, the lug-to-lug measurement of both sizes makes them wear a millimetre or two larger than their diameters might suggest, and to my surprise, I found myself reaching for the 36mm reference over the 39mm because of how nicely it wrapped around the wrist.

As I mentioned at the top of this article, the case design has been slightly updated with sharper angles where the case meets the bracelet, an octagonal bezel that reaches all the way to the edge of its circular base, and wider, more reflective bevels on the edges of the case that play with the light nicely. There’s a sapphire crystal caseback that shows off the GP4800 inside, as well as helping guarantee all four of the new references to 150m of water resistance.

Arriving at the dials, Girard-Perregaux has cut exactly zero corners on their production, with no less than three different sizes of Clous de Paris on their surfaces. Unsurprisingly, the 36mm references have the finest pattern, the 39mm model with the rose gold dial is ever so slightly larger, and the pattern of the 39mm option with the blue enamel dial is even larger still to maximise the visual impact of the transparent flinqué finish.

Another area where the blue enamel dial stands apart from the rest of the collection is its lack of minute track and date window, both of which serve to make the dial look larger on the wrist and further emphasise the craft that went into its creation. Finally, while the non-enamel dials have a dedicated plate for the logo to be printed onto, the logo of the blue enamel dial is printed directly onto the surface of the transparent flinqué finish, adding some additional visual depth and giving it the appearance of almost floating above the dial surface. They’re small details, sure, but they show exactly how much thought and attention to detail have gone into developing this collection.

Beneath the dials is Girard-Perregaux’s calibre GP4800, which first debuted in The Fifty limited edition as the brand’s new flagship movement. At 25.6mm in diameter and 4.28mm thick, it’s clearly been developed as a base calibre that can serve as a versatile platform for future complications and is fitted with more than a handful of silicone components, including the escape wheel, pallet lever, and roller. 

It beats at 4Hz, features a variable-inertia balance, and is unidirectionally wound via a yellow gold rotor mounted on ceramic ball bearings. Without question, the coolest detail is one that gives a nod to the brand’s movement architecture history, with a balance bridge and rotor truss made to look like the Three Golden Bridges design (with the third bridge visible from the inside of the closed clasp).

When The Fifty anniversary edition was released last year, it turned heads for plenty of the right reasons, but with only 200 pieces available, the question on everyone’s lips was “what’s coming next”? This recent four-reference release is the answer, and despite the line-up being relatively narrow at the moment, Girard-Perregaux has done plenty with this quartet. 

Both sizes can genuinely claim to be unisex in their appeal (I preferred the 36mm); they’re powered by an almost-new movement that blends some of the best of heritage design and contemporary watchmaking; the dials are beautiful to see in person (especially the blue enamel), and there’s even a scattering of diamonds for anyone hunting a Friday night watch. Plus, this is obviously just the start of what the Laureato Fifty collection will grow to be, putting Girard-Perregaux unambiguously in the mix when it comes to the ever-increasingly competitive landscape of integrated bracelet sports watches.

So while there’s plenty to be excited about for what Girard-Perregaux is cooking up for the next few years, there’s more than enough to enjoy about the Laureato Fifty references that are here right now.

Brand: Girard-Perregaux
Model: Laureato Fifty
Reference Number: 81008-11-3627-1CM / 81008-11-3530-1CM / 81006-11-3626-1CM / 81006-11S3597-1CMDiameter: 39mm (Rose Gold-Toned & Blue Enamel) / 36mm (Rose Gold-Toned & Diamond-Set)
Thickness: 9.8mm
Case Material: Steel / Steel with 64 brilliant-cut diamonds ~0.55ct (Diamond-Set)
Dial Colour: Rose gold-toned (39mm & 36mm) / Blue enamel (39mm) / Silver (36mm Diamond-Set)
Indexes: Applied
Lume: Yes (blue emission)
Water Resistance: 150 meters
Strap/Bracelet: Integrated steel bracelet, triple-folding clasp, 4mm micro-adjustment

Calibre: GP4800
Functions: Hours, minutes, central seconds, date (39mm Rose Gold-Toned & both 36mm) / Hours, minutes, central seconds (39mm Blue Enamel)
Diameter: 25.60mm
Thickness: 4.28mm
Power Reserve: 60 hours
Winding: Automatic
Frequency: 28,800 vph (4 Hz)
Jewels: 19
Chronometer Certified: No
Additional Details: 18k rose gold oscillating weight and balance bridge; architecture inspired by GP's Three Bridges lineage; 10 distinct finishing types

Price: $39,100 (39mm & 36mm Rose Gold-Toned) / $41,500 (39mm Blue Enamel) / $41,000 (36mm Diamond-Set)
Availability: Now
Limited Edition: No

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