Girard-Perregaux Launches Laureato Williams Edition in Williams Blue
Girard-Perregaux knows its way around a pit lane. The La Chaux-de-Fonds manufacture has already lived one long chapter in motorsport, from its Ferrari collaborations in the 1990s to its recent spell on the Aston Martin F1 Team pit wall between 2021 and 2025.
Now comes the next stint. For the 2026 Formula 1 season, the brand moves garages, signing on with the Atlassian Williams F1 Team and marking the start of the partnership with a pair of sharply tuned Laureato Williams Edition models: a 42mm automatic time-and-date and a 42mm chronograph. The green of Aston is gone. Williams blue takes over.
Laureato Meets FW48
The choice of platform is obvious. The Laureato is one of the original integrated-bracelet sports watches, first unveiled in 1975—two years before Williams entered Formula 1. Nearly 50 years on, it remains Girard-Perregaux’s emblematic all-rounder, recently refreshed with the anniversary Laureato Fifty and more compact steel versions in 39mm and 36mm, along with the launch of the new automatic calibre GP4800.
For a collection tied to Formula 1, the Laureato’s mix of sharp geometry, integrated steel and everyday toughness fits naturally. Two configurations carry the Williams colours onto the wrist: a classic automatic and a chronograph, both in 42mm, both drawing visual cues from the Williams FW48, the team’s 2026 race car.
The link is clearest on the dial. Each watch wears a Williams blue Clous de Paris pattern, that small hobnail texture catching the light like carbon-fibre under the paddock sun. Red details trace the keyline of the FW48’s livery, adding a flash of race-day aggression. Rhodium-plated hands, applied markers and, on the chronograph, rhodium rings around the registers, all contribute to a clean, technical look.
Branding is discreet but deliberate. A subtle Williams “W” sits at 12 o’clock, integrated into the Laureato’s familiar layout rather than shouting over it. Flip the watch over and a metallised Williams emblem on the caseback seals the collaboration.
Laureato Williams Edition 42mm
The first model is the purist’s option: a time-and-date Laureato in a 42mm steel case, water-resistant to 100m and capped with the collection’s signature octagonal bezel. The integrated bracelet flows straight from the case, giving the watch that seamless, sporty profile that made the Laureato a genre-defining piece in the first place.
Despite its presence on the wrist, the case stays relatively slim at 10.68mm, keeping it wearable under a cuff and comfortable for daily use. Williams blue dominates the dial, and even the date disc follows suit, avoiding the visual jolt of a contrasting window.
Inside, Girard-Perregaux installs the calibre GP1800, a large yet slim automatic movement offering a 54-hour power reserve and a 4Hz beat rate. It’s a solid, modern engine—more endurance racer than fragile prototype.
This Laureato Williams Edition 42mm is a special, non-limited release, priced at EUR 15,900 or USD 16,200.
Quick facts: 42mm x 10.68mm steel case, sapphire crystals, 100m water-resistant – Williams blue dial with embossed Clous de Paris – Calibre GP1800 automatic, 4Hz, 54h power reserve – integrated steel bracelet with triple folding clasp – Reference 81010-11-3680-1GM.
Laureato Chronograph Williams Edition
If the time-and-date model is the clean single-seater, the chronograph is the full race trim. Still 42mm, but now crafted from 904L steel, a higher-grade alloy prized for its corrosion resistance and sheen, it feels more muscular on the wrist. Screwed pushers and a crown guard underline the sporting intent without turning the watch into a brute.
Thickness rises only slightly to 12.16mm, impressive for a chronograph rated to 100m water resistance. It remains a watch you can wear all day, not just on race weekends.
The dial once again leans on Williams blue with the same Clous de Paris texture, but here the layout is busier, more instrumental. Rhodium-plated accents dominate, with a single streak of red on the central chronograph seconds hand acting like a pit-lane speed limiter line—thin, sharp, impossible to miss when the hand is in motion.
Power comes from the calibre GP03300-2451, a modular automatic chronograph movement with 63 jewels and 419 components, running at 4Hz and delivering 46 hours of power reserve. It’s a complex piece of engineering befitting a watch that carries the timing function synonymous with motor racing.
Like its three-hand sibling, the Laureato Chronograph Williams Edition is a special but non-limited edition, priced at EUR 20,500 or USD 20,900.
Quick facts: 42mm x 12.16mm 904L steel case, sapphire crystals, 100m water-resistant – Williams blue dial with embossed Clous de Paris – Calibre GP03300-2451 automatic modular chronograph, 4Hz, 46h power reserve – integrated 904L steel bracelet with triple folding clasp – Reference 81020-11-3681-1GM.
From Ferrari red to Aston green and now Williams blue, Girard-Perregaux keeps changing colours, but not its strategy: embed itself with teams that live on the edge of engineering. The next question is simple: when the FW48 rolls out in 2026, how many of these Laureato Williams Editions will be glinting on the wrists inside the garage?
