After 50 Years, This Sports Watch Icon Achieves Its Most Perfect Form

The Royal Oak’s oldest competitor just threw down the gauntlet.

Side view of a silver and gold wristwatch with a gold crown engraved with "GP" on an orange background.

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Published October 7, 2025

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Debuting in 1972, the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak is generally cited as the original “luxury sports watch,” with its integrated bracelet, elaborate bezel and textured dial establishing a new genre that continues to dominate and inspire more than five decades later.

There are several watches that followed in the Royal Oak’s wake in the sports watch-crazed 1970s, namely the fellow Gérald Genta-designed Patek Philippe Nautilus and IWC Ingenieur, along with the Vacheron Constantin 222, all of which are still considered the iconic sports watch’s main rivals.

But, to quote a certain diminutive Jedi, there is another.

The Royal Oak’s oldest rival, and still arguably its closest competitor today in many respects, is the Girard Perregaux Laureato. It debuted in 1975, just three years after the Royal Oak and before all those other watches I mentioned.

Today, Girard-Perregaux celebrates the model’s 50th anniversary with a thoroughly reworked model that pays tribute to the original Laureato while also paving the way toward an exciting future for the watch.

Two luxury wristwatches with gold and silver metal bands and dark textured dials displayed on brown pedestals against a gradient beige to dark brown background. — The original Laureato from 1975 (left) next to the new Laureato Fifty.

Fifty years old!

The Laureato is fifty. Fifty years old. And while that doesn’t make it the oldest watch model on the market by any stretch, it’s still quite an achievement, and one that’s every bit befitting the very special Laureato that GP has created to mark the occasion.

The new Laureato Fifty is modeled after the very first Laureato from 1975, but it is effectively a brand-new watch, with a new bracelet, a new case and even a brand-new movement.

The Laureato Fifty takes its aesthetic inspiration from the ’75 model, mimicking that watch’s two-tone style — executed here with a combination of stainless steel and 3N yellow gold — and borrowing its signature Clous de Paris-patterned dial in sunray gray. More modern touches include a color-matched date window at 3:00 and a counterweight in the shape of GP’s double arrow logo on the 3N gold seconds hand.

Close-up of a Girard-Perregaux watch face with a textured gray dial, gold hour markers, hands, and a date window showing 28. — The new watch borrows the original Laureato’s two-tone color scheme and gray Clous de Paris dial.

Next we have the case, which debuts here in a new sweet-spot size: 39mm. Previously, the modern Laureato existed in 42mm, 38mm and 34mm sizes, with the latter two often (and exclusively on the 34mm variant) being bejeweled with gemstones. The new 39mm case is also thinner than the existing Laureatos at just 9.8mm tall. Despite this, the watch has boosted its water resistance by 50 percent, from 100m to 150m.

In addition to its new size, the case has also been completely reworked. Its angles are sharper, its finishing more impressive and its integration with the bracelet has been improved. Speaking of the bracelet, it may have received my favorite updates on the entire watch.

Close-up of a two-tone metal watch bracelet with brushed silver links and polished gold center links, attached to a gold bezel watch case. — The case and bracelet are both more sharply angled than before, with the braclet’s new short, flat links being particularly noticeable (and welcome).

The bracelet still features brushed H-links interspersed with polished center links, but the links are now shorter, flatter and sharper. It’s a more dynamic look that better suits the integrated style. I vastly prefer it to the larger, softer, more rounded links of all other modern Laureatos, and it’s closer to the design of the flat links found on the bracelet of the original 1975 Laureato.

In addition to its cool new look, the bracelet of the Laureato Fifty also boasts a handy new feature: an on-the-fly microadjustment system. Hidden within the signed butterfly clasp is a mechanimsm that allows you to expand each side of the bracelet by 2mm for a total 4mm of travel, a welcome update that is missing from many of the Laureato’s competitors.

Back of a two-tone stainless steel and gold Girard-Perregaux Laureato watch showing the automatic movement through a transparent case back. — The watch also marks the debut of Girard-Perregaux’s impressive new GP4800 calibre.

Visible behind the sapphire caseback of the watch is the brand-new in-house automatic Calibre GP4800, a movement with which GP is so pleased that the brand announced it in a standalone press release two weeks ahead of its debut in this watch.

An impressive mix of contemporary technical prowess and traditional horlogical artistry, the new engine features an amagnetic silicon balance spring and a free-sprung balance wheel along with ten different types of finishing and a design that takes inspiration from GP’s other icon, the Three Bridges line. The movement measures just 4.28mm thick, has a 52-hour power reserve and is wound by a solid 3N yellow gold rotor on ceramic ball bearings.

Two-tone stainless steel and gold wristwatch with a textured gray dial and date display on technical drawings. — Now *this* is how you celebrate a birthday.

Pricing and availability

I’ve really got to hand it to GP here. When it comes to anniversary watch models, I’m not sure I can recall another one that’s been as thoroughly reworked as this one. The brand updated and improved everything on the Laureato, and I really love where they landed.

The sharper angles, the flatter bracelet, the new features, the 39mm case size and the fancier movement are all exactly what I wanted for the Laureato, and if GP eventually moves these updates to the main line, I think the Laureato will rocket up near the top of the integrated luxury sports watch rankings.

For now, at least, if you want all of these updates, you’ll need to buy the Laureato Fifty — and that’s where things get a little tricky. The watch is limited to just 200 examples and is priced at $28,320. It’s available this month from Girard-Perregaux retailers, but I doubt stocks last for long, so act fast.

Two-tone stainless steel and gold wristwatch with a textured gray dial and date display at 3 o'clock.

Girard-Perregaux Laureato Fifty

Specs

Case Size	39mm
Movement	Girard-Perregaux Cal. GP4800 automatic
Water Resistance	150m

$28,320 at Girard-Perregaux

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