Hands-On: Seeing (British Racing) Green With The Girard-Perregeaux Laureato Aston Martin Edition 38mm
The fusion of watch and automotive enthusiasm is not novel. These shared interests intersect constantly. Whether we are talking about the Rolex Daytona or the Heuer Carrera or even Porsche Design – the throughlines are all there. The two arenas marry ideas of history, craftsmanship, and performance. They are ripe with storytelling in silos and even more when joined together.
In 2021, Girard-Perregeaux and Aston Martin entered into such a marriage, allowing the two storied brands to collaborate across various mediums. Earlier this year, they unveiled a special Laureato (GP’s iconic integrated sports watch) in a color known well by motor heads: British Racing Green.
More often than not – in the modern context at least – horological automotive collabs can be a bit heavy-handed. Think dials that look like fuel gauges or overtly contemporary design cues meant to evoke similarly modern automotive designs. Aston and GP have taken a far simpler route with this release.
Understanding the power of “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” watch design, the choice was made to use GP’s Laureato as the basis for the watch in two sizes: 42mm and 38mm. Today we are looking at the 38mm model because – well – it’s a really compelling watch at an equally compelling diameter… in green. All green.
And that, right there, is the stand-out feature of this timepiece. While it doesn’t scream British Racing Green to me, I think it was a nice touch to have made that the inspiration behind the choice of hue. I suppose it’s missing some white stripes to really drive the point home. Ultimately, what this watch does well is to marry the modern and the classic. The modern component that merits most of the attention is the use of ceramic for the entire watch – i.e. case and bracelet. This particular ceramic is made from zirconium and metallic oxides in a composition that allows for a combination of satin and polished finishes.
The dial, as green as the case and bracelet, has a distinctive webbing pattern evocative of the grill of a car, but it isn’t distracting in the metal. In fact, when the light hits, it adds a level of visual intrigue that would be missing amidst the sea of green. The overall dial layout is simple, featuring hours, minutes, seconds, and date (at three o’clock) functionality. You have the applied GP logo up at 12, and the Laureato and Automatic text near six o’clock. The latter is done in a distinctive, serif-heavy, ’70s-style typeface that helps bridge the new-and-old motif.
The ceramic used for the green is seven times harder than you would find in a steel watch and offers serious resistance to scratches. Turn the green watch over and you’ll find an exhibition caseback complete with Aston Martin branding. Behind the branding rests the GP03300 caliber, and in-house movement offering 46 hours of power reserve (the 42mm version utilizes the GP01800, with 54 hours of reserve power).
In a sea of integrated bracelet sports watches, sometimes it takes a car to break up the monotony. With a wrist size of just under 6½ inches, I gravitate towards this 38mm version. Putting it on my wrist, I got a real sense of the history of the Laureato, which dates back to 1975. The little flourishes, like the font and octagonal case, combined with the distinctive green ceramic, really made this feel like a watch operating on a “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts” foundation.
While some will look at the $25,000 price tag on this watch as punchy – it is certainly appropriate against many of its similarly styled competitors in the space and has both movement and material innovation to back it up. Given everything this watch is offering inside and out, I’ll be paying closer attention to this partnership going forward.
Girard-Perregeaux Green Ceramic Aston Martin Edition 38mm: 38mm x 10.27mm; green ceramic case and bracelet; anti-reflective sapphire crystal; sunray cross-hatch green dial; hours, minutes, seconds, date function; GP03300 caliber with 46 hours of power reserve and 27 jewels; green-emitting luminescence; 100 meters of water resistance; price: $25,000.
Shop this story
For more information, visit Girard-Perregeaux online.
Hodinkee
