Diamond Life: Admiring the Girard-Perregaux Laureato 34mm High Jewelry Pièce Unique

Can a diamond-studded watch be considered demure?

Well, Girard-Perregaux seems to be trying its darndest to make that answer yes with last week’s release of an elegant pièce unique version of its storied Laureato housed in a pink gold case encrusted with 1,791 brilliant cut diamonds and featuring a crown set with an amethyst.

Yet, despite all the ice, it’s an elegant expression of the classic 1975 timepiece. Let’s take a closer look at this amazing one-off.

We’re only in February, and this is the second watch-related tribute to Disco-Era opulence (the first was the all-yellow gold Piaget Polo 79 to celebrate the brand’s 150th Anniversary). However, this High Jewelry edition of Girard-Perregaux’s legendary Laureato shines its light on another side of the 1970s than the Piaget Polo 79.

Specifically, the Laureato 34mm High Jewelry is a nod to the high society world depicted in producer Ryan Murphy’s recent series, Feud: Capote vs. The Swans. The show is a non-fiction drama that culminates with the publication of a thinly veiled tell-all called “La Côtes Basques” in 1975.

Of course, the Laureato debuted in 1975 and had a ground-breaking quartz movement with an intricately formed case. Since then, the Laureato collection has always stood out from the crowd because of its mixed use of strong shapes.
 

For example, the round dial is surrounded by an octagonal bezel set atop a circular plinth resting upon a tonneau-shaped case. It sounds impossibly convoluted when described aloud, but this seemingly chaotic construction makes sense when the light hits the multi-faceted case, producing pockets of brilliance and shade.

In this instance, the diamonds on the High Jewelry piece accentuate this already extraordinary interplay with light. And because the bracelet is also encrusted with stones, there is no angle at which this timepiece doesn’t sparkle.