SJX Watches
Hands On: Girard-Perregaux Laureato Fifty Tourbillon Micro-Rotor
Girard-Perregaux (GP) is on the rebound after a few quiet years, and the Laureato Fifty Tourbillon Micro-Rotor 39 mm is a compelling addition to the premium sports watch arena. Featuring an all-new automatic tourbillon calibre and expensively crafted dials — with optional grand feu enamel — the Laureato Fifty Tourbillon embodies the strides GP has taken to reposition itself in the industrial-haute horlogerie segment. Initial thoughts I tend to feel somewhat jaded about tourbillons squeezed into sports watches, but I was pleasantly surprised by the thoughtful execution of the Laureato Fifty Tourbillon, from its grand feu flinqué enamel dial to the (surprisingly) solid gold bridges of the all-new cal. GP8410. Moreover, the brand managed to maintain the nearly ideal proportions of the Laureato Fifty while adding a finely finished free-sprung tourbillon to the lower half of the dial. While the 39 mm format is familiar, the cal. GP8410 is one of four new automatic calibres the brand has introduced in roughly the past year, after the workhorse GP4800, the automatic minute repeating cal. GP9530, and the GP9620 with the brand’s emblematic “three gold bridges” architecture. The nearly simultaneous release of these four distinct platforms hints at the investment put into GP since the group’s management buyout in early 2022. Priced at almost exactly US$100,000, both variants of the Laureato Fifty Tourbillon are positioned squarely against watches like the Vacheron Consta...