Girard-Perregaux Laureato Skeleton Ceramic Review

Girard-Perregaux has always been a brand I have been a huge fan of and has my utmost respect. When I first got into the watch industry I had pretty good access to pre-owned watches from Girard-Perregaux and my favorites were the WW.TC worldtimers and Sea Hawk divers. At that time in the mid 2000s the collection of the watch we are going to look at today wasn't nearly as popular as it has recently become.

Before we get into the watch we are going to be reviewing today let's take a brief look at the history of Girard-Perregaux. The brand can trace its history back to 1791 when Jean-Francois Bautte established his watch manufacture in Geneva. Bautte's manufacture was renowned for being one of the first to vertically integrate all stages of watch production under one roof. Years later in 1852 Constant Girard would form his own watchmaking workshop in La Chaux-de-Founds.



Soon after forming his workshop, Constant would go on to marry Marie Perregaux in 1854, who came from a prominent watchmaking family herself. Two years later in 1856 Constant and Marie would officially found Girard-Perregaux. Constant's biggest accomplishment in early horology was when he created the tourbillon with three gold bridges which improved upon Abraham-Louis Breguet's tourbillon.

Constant meticulously redesigned Breguet's invention by incorporating three parallel gold arrow shaped bridges that would support the center wheel, escapement and tourbillon. Not only was this a technical advancement but it also put elements of the movement once hidden by the dial or case back on full display. In 1889 Constant presented his La Esmeralda pocket watch which featured the tourbillon with three gold bridges at the Paris Universal Exhibition where it won a gold medal. This win would firmly cement Girard-Perregaux's place in the watchmaking world and give the brand a reputation of excellence.



When Constant passed away in 1903 his son, Constant Girard-Gallet, took over Girard-Perregaux. In 1906 he would go on to acquire Bautte's manufacture which was established in 1791. This acquisition enabled Girard-Perregaux to integrate the rich history and technical expertise of J.F. Bautte & Cie with their own manufacture.

Wristwatches started to become popular after World War I and Girard-Perregaux was one of the first pocket watch companies to notice the trend and start producing their own wristwatches. Shortly after Girard-Perregaux became one of the first watch companies to fully produce their own movements in the 1930s.

The 1930s also saw the introduction of the first automatic movement from Girard-Perregaux, this was a bumper style movement that used an oscillating weight that swung back and forth to wind the movement. This was the precursor to automatic movements that use a rotor that freely swing 360 degrees which Girard-Perregaux would release in 1957 with their Gyromatic movement. In 1966 Girard-Perregaux would go one step further and release their Gyromatic HF movement which was an automatic movement that ran at an incredible 36,000 vibrations per hour. This was even a few years before Zenith would release their game changing high beat El Primero automatic chronograph movement in 1969.



The 1970s was a devastating time for the Swiss watch industry since cheap Japanese quartz watches were overrunning the market. Back in the 1970s watches were not purely seen as luxury accessories but were actually a critical piece of everyday life. Having an accurate watch was very important and quality Swiss mechanical watches were expensive. The creation of cheap quartz watches enabled everyone to be able to afford a watch that was even more accurate than the finest Swiss mechanical watches.

Inexpensive quartz watches were destroying the traditional Swiss watch industry and numerous timeless brands found themselves out of business. To stay afloat brands needed something different to once again bring buyers back. One of the ideas to really get people interested in Swiss watches again was the creation of the integrated sports watch pioneered by Gerald Genta and his early 1970's Audemars Piguet Royal Oak and Patek Philippe Nautilus. These watches were known for their sporty looks and bracelet that seamlessly integrated into the case of the watch. These were truly mind-blowing designs for the time, where watches were predominantly round with traditional lugs.

Girard-Perregaux naturally noticed the release of these pieces and just like being an early adopter of wristwatches, decided to create their own integrated sports watch. Instead of having the watch designed in Switzerland by in-house designers, Girard-Perregaux hired an un-named architect from Milan to design the watch. This allowed a fresh perspective to create the watch and attract a new audience.



The resulting watch was called the Laureato which means "graduate" in Italian, a name suggested by an Italian distributor for Girard-Perregaux. The watch had a bracelet that seamlessly flowed into its case and featured an eight sided bezel that was superimposed on a circular ring. Unlike traditional round cases, the Laureato has more of a tonneau shape to it. As with the times, the first Laureato models featured a quartz movement. Unlike today the quartz movement was not looked down upon but rather was a marvel of technology. The movement was also a certified chronometer showing its extreme accuracy.

As the decades progressed the Laureato moved on to incorporating mechanical movements and even high end complications like tourbillons and perpetual calendars. Along with contemporaries like the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore and Hublot Big Bang, the Laureato also grew in size during the 2000s with the Evo3 collection.

In 2016 Girard-Perregaux ended up redesigning the entire Laureato line to be more in line with the original design from the 1970s. Prior to this re-launch the Laureato collection had fallen a bit out of favor with collectors. Much like the Royal Oak Offshore had its moment in the 2000s, the smaller Royal Oak had now became the more desired model. The new Laureato collection was more refined and for the most part smaller as well, these changes really struck a chord and the Laureato once again became a smash success.

The watch we're going to be taking a closer look at today is from the newest collection of the Laureato family. The watch in question is the Laureato Skeleton crafted out of black ceramic. I had a large group of watches from Girard-Perregaux that I could choose from to review and I ended up picking this watch for a few reasons. First I thought a Laureato would be the best first watch to review from Girard-Perregaux since it's such an iconic collection from the brand. Second I'm a huge lover of ceramic watches and having a watch with a ceramic case and full ceramic bracelet is rare to see. Finally I thought the watch being a skeleton would give a great glimpse into both the technical and finishing expertise of Girard-Perregaux.



I requested the Laureato Skeleton from Girard-Perregaux's PR firm Gigantem and was promptly sent the watch. When the Laureato Skeleton arrived the first thing I noticed about the watch was its lightness. Typically watches on bracelets, even titanium pieces, carry significant weight with them. That is not the case for the Laureato which only weighs 106 grams when sized for my 7.25 inch wrist. The watch literally disappears on the wrist when being worn, which is not common for bracelet watches. The added weight of a bracelet is one of the main reasons I prefer to wear watches on straps.

The next thing I noticed about the Laureato was how it really looks like its own watch. The image of the Royal Oak and Nautilus are so engrained in our minds that it's very easy for any integrated sports watch to come off looking like a clone of either or both. The Laureato manages to be its own watch while still adhering to what we expect from this genre of watch. While the Royal Oak and Nautilus have simple pronounced bezels, the bezel of the Laureato is much more complex. The bezel is made up of two parts, one being a sharp eight sided design and the other being slimmer and completely round. The eight sided bezel sits on top of the round bezel and when combined they provide a unique visual effect that gives the bezel depth and is far more visually interesting than the bezels found on the Royal Oak and Nautlius.



Naturally the last thing I noticed about the Laureato Skeleton from my initial time with the watch was its skeletonized dial. There is no real definition of a skeleton dial and these can range from older Zenith watches that only had a small cut out in the dial where you could see the balance to skeleton movements from Seiko where the movement hasn't really been skeletonized but rather various elements have been removed to allow you to see the top of the movement dial side. The Laureato is a true skeletonized movement where everything that possibly could be removed has been. The result is a movement that you can literally look right through. Even the winding rotor has been designed in such a way that it barely blocks any views through the watch. The work Girard-Perregaux did on the movement and "dial" of this watch is just mind-blowing.

Now that we've gone over my initial impressions of the Girard-Perregaux Laureato Skeleton, let's take a look at its technical specs. The watch has a case diameter of 42 mm and a lug to lug length of 49.3 mm. As mentioned before the watch weighs in at 106 grams and at its thickest point is 11.3 mm.



The Laureato uses a nearly flat sapphire crystal which you can just feel a slight dome to when running your fingers over it. Naturally the sapphire is crystal clear giving a perfect view of the skeletonized movement sitting underneath. The only real dial to speak of on the Laureato Skeleton is the black chapter ring that goes around the outside of the dial. Each hour is marked with a very small applied hour marker which is coated with Super Luminova. At 12 o'clock there is a "GP" Girard-Perregaux logo in place of the hour marker. The hour and minute hands are simple in design and appear white in normal light but are also coated in Super Luminova which glows green in low light like the hour markers. Finally there is a tiny polished running seconds hand located just left of center.

The real star of the dial is the skeletonized movement. The balance at 12 o'clock and mainspring at 5 o'clock are expertly framed by the bridges and really draw your eye to them. There is also the full Girard-Perregaux branding on the bridge that slightly covers the mainspring. When the watch is running you can see the balance beating away and various components of the gear train moving. The watch is a real feast for the eyes.



The top of the eight sided bezel has a brushed finish to it while the sides are polished. The larger flat bezel that the eight sided bezel sits on is rounded and fully polished. When these two bezels are combined they trick your eyes and make the eight sided bezel appear to be scalloped and 3D. The polished bezel also really pronounces the matte look of the eight sided bezel and makes it really stand out. As with any polished ceramic, the material can become a fingerprint magnet. There isn't too much polished ceramic used on the Laureato Skeleton, but sometimes a quick wipe of the case is needed.

The top and sides of the case also have a matching brushed finish found on the top of the eight sided bezel. The chamfers of the Laureato Skeleton's case are polished though, which adds a bit of luxury to the otherwise all blacked out watch. Looking at the profile of the case you can see how slim the watch is and just how sharply the lugs angle downwards with aids in wearability on smaller wrists.



On the right hand side of the case you can see the screw down crown featuring a "GP" logo on top of it. The crown has very fine scalloping and still offers sufficient grip during operation. Unscrewing the crown allows you to wind the watch in its resting position. Pulling the crown out to its only position lets you set the time and stops the small seconds hand. Pushing the crown back in causes no jump in the minutes hand either. The crown screws in nicely and requires no additional care to line up.

Flipping the watch over shows off the display case back that is fixed to the case using six screws. With the screw down crown and display back the Laureato Skeleton still offers 100 meters of water resistance. Under the yet again crystal clear rear sapphire you can see the in-house Girard-Perregaux GP01800 caliber. The GP01800 is an automatic movement which beats at 28,800 vph (4Hz) and has a power reserve of 54 hours. On our timegrapher the movement ran at -2 seconds per day of accuracy when averaged out over several positions. That result puts the watch well within chronometer standards.

The movement is topped with a gold skeleton rotor which does an amazing job of not covering up much of the movement when viewed from the dial side of the watch. The rotor features Girard-Perregaux branding on the bottom of the weight as well. The movement is treated by a galvanic process that results in an anthracite grey color. The grey color of the movement also compliments the pink gold of the winding rotor nicely.



Both the front and rear of the movement are hand finished and the results are just breathtaking. The movement showcases nice use of anglage, perlage and Geneva striping. The movement is finished nicely but is not over the top. The grey finish of the movement also keeps the finishing from looking like too much for a fully blacked out timepiece. The only flash on the movement is the gold winding rotor. The movement is also adorned with the Geneva Seal.

The lug width of the Girard-Perregaux Laureato Skeleton is 26 mm and being that it is an integrated case design, the watch can only be used with straps and bracelets that are designed for the watch. I'd imagine that leather and rubber straps meant for other Laureato models would fit just fine on the Skeleton.

The Laureato Skeleton comes on a black ceramic bracelet that is finished in the same way the case is. The outer links have a brushed finish with polished chamfers mirroring the case. The center links are polished with the back of the links being brushed. The design looks amazing when combined with the case and results in a very complete looking timepiece. The bracelet tapers down from 26 mm at the lugs to 18 mm at the clasp.



The Laureato Skeleton has a hidden triple folding clasp that requires two buttons to be depressed to release the bracelet. The only sign of the clasp is the "GP" logo engraved on the link containing the buttons. To size the bracelet Girard-Perregaux uses a push pin system for the removable links. While on a metal bracelet there is no issue with this system, on a ceramic bracelet you really need to be careful while sizing the bracelet. Ceramic while a touch and scratch proof material can fracture. I would highly suggest having a watchmaker or boutique size this watch for you. With that being said, with this Laureato Skeleton being a press sample, it looks brand new. Press watches aren't treated well and the fact that I could not find a scratch anywhere on this watch is impressive.

For the time I had the Girard-Perregaux Laureato Skeleton I tried to wear it as my primary watch. While I really don't like watches on bracelets the Laureato didn't bother me. Maybe it was just how lightweight the watch was, but the watch was a treat on the wrist. There are no micro-adjustments on the clasp, but Girard-Perregaux does offer half links to get the sizing just right. The just under 50 mm lug to lug length was a little smaller than I typically like a watch to be, but not being on a strap made the watch wear larger. The Laureato also sat very nice and center on my wrist and never favored one side over the other.

The basic design of a skeleton watch means that legibility isn't the main focus of the design. Trying to tell the time while driving with just a glance is how I typically test the legibility of a watch. While the Laureato wasn't the easiest watch to tell the time with at a glance, it really wasn't that bad. The polished hour and minute hands contrast well with the grey movement and just by general location on the dial you can quickly tell the time. The hour markers are rather small, so they don't really help much here.



Wearing the Laureato Skeleton out does attract a lot of attention. Over the past few years integrated sports watches have just exploded in popularity and with the Laureato being crafted out black ceramic and also being a skeleton and coming on a full ceramic bracelet it really gets noticed. Even on my pretty boring errands like going to the grocery store and FedEx I had comments about the watch. Going out to dinner and drinks also attracted a lot of eyes and some comments. People mostly commented on the look of the ceramic case and bracelet and were also entranced by the skeleton movement. I'd say the only watches that received more attention were the various Freak models I've worn from Ulysse Nardin.

You could probably guess that a full ceramic watch featuring a hand finished skeleton movement from one of the most respected Swiss watch manufactures would not come in cheap. The retail price of the Girard-Perregaux Laureato Skeleton in black ceramic is $49,900. The price is high for sure, but you are also getting the pinnacle of Swiss watchmaking as it comes to time only watches. The Laureato Skeleton is truly a stunning piece and the price is justified in my opinion. Now would be a good time to take a look at some alternatives to the Laureato Skeleton and see how it compares.



First up we have the Royal Oak Double Balance Wheel Openworked from Audemargs Piguet. This watch is also crafted out of black ceramic and has a case size of 41 mm. The Royal Oak Openworked probably most closely resembles the Laureato Skeleton and is powered by an in-house skeletonized calibre 3132 automatic movement with 45 hours of power reserve, which is around 10 hours less than the Laureato. The Royal Oak also only offers 50 meters of water resistance of the 100 meters found on the Laureato. The Royal Oak Openworked does cost over two times of what the Laureato Skeleton costs at $101,100 though.

Moving on we have the Streamliner Tourbillon Skeleton from Moser. This watch has a case diameter of 40 mm and is crafted out of stainless steel. The Streamliner is Moser's modern take on the integrated sports watch and with that has a very unique look to it. The Streamliner Tourbillon Skeleton is also nicely skeletonized like the Laureato and Royal Oak and adds a tourbillon to the equation. The Streamliner is powered by an in-house HMC 814 automatic movement with 74 hours of power reserve. The Streamliner also has a very good water resistance of 120 meters. The Moser is a good deal more expensive than the Girard-Perregaux at around $87,000.



Next up is the Antarctique Squelette from Czapek which has a case diameter of 40.5 mm and is crafted out of stainless steel. The Antarctique has the traditional integrated sports watch design and features a nicely skeletonized movement. The watch runs on an in-house Czapek caliber SXH7 automatic movement with 60 hours of power reserve. The case is rated for 120 meters of water resistance like the Moser. The Antarctique is a little less expensive than the Laureato at $44,600 but does not come in ceramic and is not from such a storied watch manufacture as Girard-Perregaux.

Finally we have the Big Bang Integrated Black Magic from Hublot which has a 42 mm case crafted out of black ceramic. The Black Magic takes Hublot's traditional Big Bang design aesthetic and adjusts it to be an integrated design. Powering the watch is Hublot's in-house HUB1280 UNICO automatic chronograph movement with 72 hours of power reserve. Unlike the other four watches we've looked at the dial is more exposed than skeletonized. You can't really see through the movement in most places on this watch. The Black Magic does offer the same water resistance as the Laureato at 100 meters and does cost nearly half as much at $25,200.



Looking at the four watches we compared the Laureato Skeleton to, you can see that the watch offers a lot for the money. The Royal Oak Double Balance Wheel Openworked is probably the closest comparable and costs over twice as much. The Streamliner Tourbillon offers an amazing skeleton movement and also a tourbillon but is crafted out of stainless steel and is nearly twice the price. The Antarctique is a interesting comparable but doesn't carry the same name as Girard-Perregaux in the history of watchmaking and once again is crafted out of stainless steel which doesn't command the same premium as ceramic. Finally the Big Bang Integrated Black Magic seems like a bargain at nearly half the price of the Laureato but doesn't really meet the standards of a full skeleton watch, it's more of a exposed chronograph movement.

So in the end is the Girard-Perregaux Laureato Skeleton in black ceramic for me? I'm a big fan of integrated sports watches and personally own an older limited edition Royal Oak Offshore so the look of the watch is right in my wheelhouse. I'm also a big fan of ceramic watches and we personally own three ceramic watches. Also I've been a big fan of Girard-Perregaux for over 20 years. The work Girard-Perregaux did on the finishing of the skeletonized movement is just awesome as well.



Now I'm not a huge fan of bracelets and all of my personal watches are on rubber, leather or fabric straps. That being said, I really did enjoy the full ceramic bracelet for the Laureato Skeleton and never really found myself wishing it was on a strap. Also with the lug to lug width being just under 50 mm wearing the watch on the bracelet did make it seem to wear a bit larger, which I appreciate. The full blacked out look of the watch also reminds me of the three blacked out ceramic watches we own as well. We're big fans of the blacked out look and the Laureato Skeleton pulls of that look nicely. So yeah I would say that the Laureato Skeleton would be for me. It would be interesting to try the watch out on a rubber strap as well.

Would I recommend the Girard-Perregaux Laureato Skeleton to somebody looking for a higher end integrated sports watch? The price of the Laureato Skeleton is much lower than similar competitors, especially when you factor in the full ceramic case and bracelet as well as the skeletonized movement. Also the Laureato Skeleton is much more available to purchase than say the Royal Oak Openworked. I can't really see much you can ding the Laureato for and I can easily give it my full recommendation. Because of the higher price I would highly recommend you check the watch out in person at an authorized dealer or Girard-Perregaux boutique before pulling the trigger.



I'd really like to thank Girard-Perregaux and Gigantem for sending us this Laureato Skeleton. It was a great introduction to the modern offerings from Girard-Perregaux and I can't wait to review some other collections from the brand in the near future.

For more information about the Laureato Skeleton Ceramic please visit : Girard-Perregaux

Technical Specifications

Reference Number: 81015-32-001-32A

Retail Price: $49,900

Case Size: 42 mm

Lug to Lug: 49.3 mm

Thickness: 11.3 mm

Weight: 106 Grams

Case Material: Black Ceramic

Bezel: Black Ceramic

Strap: Black Ceramic with Triple Folding Clasp

Movement: In-House GP01800 Skeleton Automatic Movement

Functions: Hours, Minutes, Seconds

Power Reserve: 54 Hours

Water Resistance: 100 Meters