Laureato Absolute Chronograph Carbon Glass

Laureato Absolute Chronograph Carbon Glass

After bringing Laureato firmly back into the spotlight, Girard-Perregaux orchestrates an evolution of its icon that makes it even more powerful. Laureato Absolute is a distillation of watchmaking expertise, enhanced by a broader case middle with tauter lines whose technical performances offer now a water-resistance to 300 meters.

The Laureato is based on a genetic code that involves changing subtle details in its appearance without ever altering its essence. Laureato Absolute reprises these fundamental principles while giving them a resolutely urban and contemporary twist.

With Laureato Absolute Chronograph Carbon Glass, Girard-Perregaux presents a radical, assertive and singular timepiece endowed with a 44 mm diameter case, framing sunburst dials with a colour gradation running from blue in the centre to dark blue around the rim. The white inner bezel ring with its luminescent accents accentuates the depth of the matt black hour-markers.

Vibrant, coloured, sophisticated and with a distinctive hue, the new Laureato Absolute Chronograph Carbon Glass captures the essence of the deliberate sportiness of this piece. The emblematic sports-type complication naturally finds its place in this distinguished design. The redesigned pushers are now also more angular. Their curved surface, highlighted by a blue border, ensures enhanced ergonomics.

This new structure, here entirely clad in Carbon Glass – a new type of carbon  - presented as a worldwide first during the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH) in 2019 – combines stiffness, impermeability, resistance and lightweight. The product of extensive research, this aesthetic and a technical achievement is a tribute to excellence.

High performance at the heart of CARBON GLASS development

The material’s patented manufacturing process hinges on extreme compression at high-temperature injection. From an aesthetic perspective, the result is, contrary to other carbon applications, a smooth and uniform surface on all sides. The singular texture with a visual vibrancy is achieved by integrating some blue glass fibres associated to the carbon. The net effect: each finish is unique, and thus each timepiece has a character all its own.

The major innovation with this technique resides in the perfect seal achieved through the material’s impermeability: no other carbon manufacturing technique matches this level of airtightness without a container. Here, the compression of the material – which has an extremely regular and homogenous structure – leads to a high density which in turn ensures a perfect seal.

The other innovation is the tremendous stiffness, here, too, in all three dimensions – which other types of carbon don’t reach. Therefore, this innovative material, stiffer than steel by a factor of 100, serves purposes that reach beyond pure packaging aesthetics. With a density close to 1, it practically floats in water (the density of steel is approximately 8 and that of titanium 4.5).