Laureato was born under the best auspices: at the confluence of the two worlds combining tradition and innovation. Designed by a Milanese architect in the 1970s, it immediately established itself as an object of art, history and form, a timeless icon of watchmaking. And today, more than ever before, the spirit behind this creation remains intact.

Rigorous yet sensual, the rhythm of Laureato’s curves gives strength to a skeletonised watch where the contents are in perfect harmony with the container. By integrating ceramic, first introduced in 2017, Girard- Perregaux takes one of its icons through an evolutionary step, combining a genuinely contemporary material with the ancestral art of skeletonisation.

That is because the art of watchmaking not only manifests itself through the mastery of the great complications, but also through the mastery of the “Métiers d'Art”, High Artisanship. And skeletonisation occupies a special place in this universe as it shows the mechanical as technically accomplished as it is aesthetically rewarding, and always stunning. Because this is the challenge in skeletonising an “Haute Horlogerie” movement: In order to reveal the inner beauty of the mechanism, the material is bored through, hollowed out, pared down until only what is vital remains. The architecture of the movement is thus magnified, its lines in their purpose revealed. The result is a true tour de force in watchmaking style and architecture. The richness of the essential and the lightness of the void. The straight line and the arc. The blue interior and the black exterior. That is what defines the Laureato Skeleton "Earth to Sky" Edition.

The vessel for this creation is a sober black ceramic case with a diameter of 42mm and a thickness of 10.93mm in thickness – the lugs forming an integral part of the lines – which is coordinated with a bracelet whose black ceramic links have an alternating matte and satin surface finish. Impeccably proportioned, the watch lets sensuous curves play with restrained, clearly defined lines. To complete the whole, the famous octagonal bezel is polished and inscribed in a circle. Everything in it reveals a search for pleasing proportions and ergonomics.

As to the content, the watch reveals the GP01800-1041 calibre, developed, manufactured and assembled in the Girard-Perregaux workshop in La Chaux-de-Fonds. It is entirely skeletonised and finished by hand with an angling to augment profiles and inner angles. A mechanical lacework whose texture, enhanced by an entirely skeletonised rose gold oscillating mass, catches the faintest light. Within this elegant blue filigree, the heart beats at noon. The balance wheel reminds us that the Laureato Skeleton “Earth to Sky” is a living creation, its variable inertia fulfilling the promise of superb precision.