Still stunning after more than a century and a half
A year shy of its 160th year, the three gold bridges continue to be as relevant as ever and remain an iconic feature of Girard Perregaux, created by Constant Girard, who first wowed his audience with a pocket watch. They found their way into a wristwatch in 1991, a decisive move by the manufacture to lure the world back to watches with mechanical movement during the early days of their return.
This year marked the 50th anniversary of the Laureato. Girard Perregaux unveiled the Laureato Fifty Three Gold Bridges as part of the special occasion. The star of the wristwatch may be over a century old, but it looks right at home and modern in the Laureato, proving its timelessness as it blends effortlessly into the modern era with our modern quirks.
The Laureato Fifty Three Gold Bridges is no ordinary watch, featuring a skeletonised dial with three classical pink-gold bridges which sit over the extreme -see-through skeletonised movement below. The bridges are not just for show; they play a vital role in the dial’s refined aesthetics. The top bridge holds the main spring barrel, the centre bridge hosts the hour and minute faceted baton-style hands filled with SuperLuminova, and the lower bridge houses the tourbillon in a lyre-shaped titanium cage. The regulator-style gold bridges pull the symmetry together, making the in-house automatic Calibre GP09620-2856 clean and sophisticated with a platinum micro-rotor situated behind the spring barrel. Thanks to the beautifully hand-finished, matte-polished finish, and the icing on the cake is the entire movement is then assembled by one watchmaker. That is simply quite amazing, and that's how it should be done. The faceted SuperLuminova-filled applique indices sit around the inner bezel, with black minute markings, completing the dial’s aesthetics. The watch is powered by a platinum micro-rotor with a 55-hour power reserve.
The dial is framed by the iconic white gold octagonal bezel of the Laureato, and it sits on a stainless-steel round base within a 41mm tonneau case, which deliberately mates to a ‘H’ link integrated stainless-steel bracelet. The watch not only exudes its modern classic spirit but also displays the master watchmaker’s mastery in the art of watchmaking, which is evident in the 159 years of three gold bridges and in the skills accumulated over 235 years of watchmaking, all within a 50-year-old watch design. They never look better in each other’s company.
If you are looking for a versatile watch that will take you anywhere you want to go, be it boardroom meetings or a formal black-tie event, or even a weekend on a yacht or just sauntering around a mall.
