Girard-Perregaux Laureato Evo3 Quartz 80188 Vintage

Some more details and pics after a couple of weeks on the wrist.




















Specs

42.6 mm case diameter
11.3 mm thickness
Lug-to-Lug 47.6 mm (54 mm bracelet first link flare)
100 ATM

MSRP in 2010 was USD 13,000/-

The double deployant clasp is of excellent quality with safety release. The bracelet is totally satin brushed (no center polished linked as seen on other EVO3 models).

Background Story

In April 1970 GP released the Elcron quartz. The first commercially available Swiss made quartz watch. A few months prior, Seiko had released it own quartz watch called the Astron. The Swiss also released a variant of their Beta 21 Quartz movement. Both the Astron as well as the Beta21 proved to be unreliable and some say the Astron was released too early merely in an effort to beat the Swiss in the race. ☺️

In 1971, GP labs went even further and invented the 32,768 Hz technology in conjunction with Motorola which was then adopted across the WORLD as the standard. 🤩 Yes, even the Japanese licensed the technology and revised their own movements. (GP was one of the very few Swiss watch brands with their own R&D labs. JLC was one of the other companies that also had labs). GP had refused to join the Swiss consortium that was developing the Beta 21 quartz .

That’s ballsy of GP and testament to them being brave even though they were a 100% family owned Maison.

Fast forward to 2010 …

As a SIHH novelty in 2010 to mark this Double anniversary … 40 years of quartz (1970-2010) and 35 years for the Laureato (1975-2020) the ref 80188 was presented as a one-time only batch in a beautiful GP presentation box by designer Stefano Macaluso who is an architect by training.

This would also be the last year the Macaluso family would own GP as the chairman of the group Luigi Macaluso passed away suddenly in October 2010. 😔

In 2011, the family sold GP to the Kering group.

This was an unsettling period for GP and possibly why not all 40 pieces were made. No confirmation yet but my research thus far is telling me that only 15 pieces were eventually made.

This anthracite-blue dial and decorated movement were made in-house specifically for the this ref 80188 and NEVER used again in any other model again.

So the ref 80188 is rare and it has been the most difficult search for me thus far across any brand. Diffcult enough to find any documentation on it let alone find the actual watch.

Side Note

As it stands, the FP Journe Elegante is the only other Swiss quartz watch that is decorated and with a display caseback. About 1,500 Elegantes are made each year.

The FPJ Elegante trades on the secondary market at about USD 30,000-40,000 today. 😅 There is obviously strong demand. They outsource the manufacture of their quartz movements as they do not have a history in quartz technology.

Summary

The ref 80188 is an example of how rare and iconic some GP models can be.

Really for those that know.

Do start looking out for rare GPs. It’s totally worth the search.

As always, I welcome your questions and comments. ❤️