Laureato

Girard Perregaux Laureato Quartz Limited Edition Watch

Think you know high-end quartz? This is high-end quartz. Girard Perregaux wasn't the first to make a quartz watch, but they were among the first Swiss brands to have a quartz watch. In 1970, one year after the quartz watch was initially released by Seiko, Girard Perregaux helped set the quartz movement frequency standard at 32.768 hertz. This is still used today by most quartz watches, and promoted on the dial of this new limited edition Laureato Quartz watch.

Inside the the watch with its familiar Girard Perregaux sporty octagon dial shape is a hand-assembled caliber GP13500 quartz movement that is probably the nicest decorated quartz movement out there. You can see it through the sapphire caseback window, note the gold cap over the battery compartment. The watch box is a cool retro space presentation box, but the real allure of this watch is as a testament to the quartz watch revolution. At first I was skeptical about who might spend this type of money on a quartz watch, but then again I realized that a good many collectors love this type of thing. At the same time, the watch is super accurate and easy to love. It is very readable, with an attractive high quality dial. The case and bracelet are in steel and very well made. So while I though initially the 40 of these watches might be too many, now I realize it is really not enough. Price will be a bit over $11,000 for this very rare type of high-end Swiss quartz watch.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Gallery: Girard Perregaux Laureato Quartz