There are anniversaries that prompt a brand to look backward, and there are those that sharpen the focus forward. The Girard-Perregaux Laureato Fifty, launched on 4 June 2026, belongs firmly to the second category. Fifty years after a Jura-born, Italian-named, Florentine-inspired octagon changed the course of an entire Manufacture’s history, La Chaux-de-Fonds presents four new references that do not celebrate the past so much as deepen it. Managing Director Marc Michel-Amadry frames it precisely: the Laureato Fifty is ‘the most immediate expression of 235 years of Girard-Perregaux expertise distilled into a single object.’ That is a bold claim. Having examined each reference in detail, I find it largely justified.
The Dials
The collection unfolds across two case diameters and four dial executions, each demanding genuine artisanal investment rather than cosmetic variation. Both 39 mm references share the signature Clous de Paris hobnail motif as their structural foundation, yet the two treatments could hardly differ more in character.
The blue enamel 39 mm (ref. 81008-11-3530-1CM) represents a genuine Laureato first. GP executes the enamelling entirely in-house, applying the vitreous layer directly over the already-textured Clous de Paris relief, a process that demands multiple firings at temperatures exceeding 800°C and carries a high rejection rate at each stage. The result is a dial with genuine optical depth: the translucent enamel refracts light differently across each hobnail pyramid, producing a chromatic shift from deep navy to near-violet depending on the angle of illumination. There is no date complication on this reference, a decision that protects the visual purity of the enamel surface and one I consider entirely correct.
The companion 39 mm (ref. 81008-11-3627-1CM) takes a different route to the same pursuit of depth, covering the Clous de Paris motif in 18K solid gold. The precious metal surface interacts with the relief below it to create an oscillating play of warmth and shadow, architectural rather than decorative, and notably more understated than it sounds in description. This reference adds a date display at three o’clock.
At 36 mm, the collection reintroduces proportions that collectors of the earlier generations will recognise immediately. The rose gold-toned version (ref. 81006-11-3626-1CM) carries the same 18K solid gold over Clous de Paris execution as its larger sibling, though the reduced diameter compresses the geometry into something more intimate and, frankly, more elegant on the wrist. The fourth reference (ref. 81006-11S3597-1CM) pairs a mirror-finished silver-toned Clous de Paris dial with a steel bezel set with 64 brilliant-cut diamonds totalling 0.55 carats, where the gem setting functions as structured light architecture rather than pure ornament. Across all four dials, the baton hands finish in 18K solid gold with blue-emission luminescent material, a coherent detail that ties the collection together without flattening its internal diversity.
The Movement
At the heart of all four references beats the new in-house Calibre GP4800, a movement that warrants considerably closer attention than a press release summary typically invites.
Technically, the GP4800 measures 25.60 mm in diameter (11½ lines) and stands just 4.28 mm tall, a compact profile that allows the 9.80 mm overall case height to remain genuinely wearable. It operates at 28,800 vph (4 Hz), uses 19 jewels, and delivers a power reserve of approximately 60 hours, achieved through a pink gold oscillating weight. The date-function versions house 163 components; the three-hand enamel reference uses 149.
What distinguishes the GP4800, however, is neither its frequency nor its power reserve but its architecture and finishing philosophy. The movement draws direct structural inspiration from GP’s legendary Three Bridges, reinterpreting those load-bearing organisational elements to direct the eye across the train with the same visual intentionality that the original arrow-shaped bridges established in 1884. Exclusively for the Laureato Fifty, GP crafts the balance bridge in rose gold, a detail invisible from the dial side and visible only through the sapphire caseback. That choice tells you everything about the Manufacture’s current priorities.
The finishing inventory runs to ten distinct techniques: polishing, sandblasting, anglage, Geneva stripes, engraving, snailing, circular satin-brushing, circular graining, sunray finishing and straight graining. Each surface treatment appears in a specific zone and for a specific optical reason. The anglage bevelling, applied by hand to every plate and bridge edge, creates the light-catching transitions between matte and mirror surfaces that give a finished movement its three-dimensional presence. The snailing on the mainplate anchor zones and the sunray finishing on the barrel bridge introduce tonal variation that reads as depth under magnification. This is not decorative padding; it is the visual grammar of serious Haute Horlogerie.
Furthermore, the GP4800 arrives as the first of three entirely new calibres GP has unveiled since September 2025, followed by the Grand Complications GP9620 and the Minute Repeater GP9530. That sequence is extraordinary for a Manufacture of GP‘s size and represents genuine strategic intent.
The Case
The Laureato Fifty case, executed in steel at both 39 and 36 mm, preserves the architecture that has defined the collection across five generations: octagonal bezel resting on a circular plinth, tonneau-shaped mid-case, fully integrated bracelet. The height of 9.80 mm across both diameters positions these watches at the comfortable end of the integrated sports-watch category.
The alternating brushed and polished surfaces follow the logic established in the original Laureato and refined through every subsequent generation. The case edges carry polished chamfering that flows continuously into the bracelet links, a detail that the 2019 42 mm generation already executed beautifully and that the Laureato Fifty tightens further. The steel bracelet terminates in a triple-fold clasp with a 4 mm micro-adjustment system, an addition that may sound minor but transforms the daily experience of a full-metal integrated bracelet significantly. Both crystal and caseback use anti-reflective sapphire, with water resistance rated to 150 metres.
A Fifty-Year Idea, Still in Progress
The Laureato Fifty does not announce itself. It reveals itself progressively, through the enamel’s depth, the rose gold bridge, the chamfered edge that catches light at the wrist. As Marc Michel-Amadry notes, this is a collection ‘designed not to assert itself, but to be progressively discovered over time.’ In a market crowded with watches that demand immediate attention, that restraint is itself a position.
Official retail prices for the Laureato Fifty collection have not been confirmed at the time of publication. Given the complexity of the in-house enamel execution and the new GP4800 calibre, expect positioning consistent with GP’s current Laureato range, where integrated steel references with in-house movements have historically started between CHF 12,000 and CHF 18,000 depending on dial execution. The diamond-set 36 mm reference will sit meaningfully above that. Watch this space for confirmed pricing.
