Despite a rocky start to the 2022 season, the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team remains one of the most intriguing teams in modern Formula 1 racing, with a unique wide-body design concept and an exciting driver pairing of Canadian ace Lance Stroll and four-time World Driver’s Championship winner Sebastian Vettel. For watch enthusiasts, however, perhaps the most exciting part of the team is its ongoing partnership with luxury marque Girard-Perregaux. The relationship between Aston Martin and Girard-Perregaux has already borne a pair of stylish releases, but for its latest offering Girard-Perregaux has announced its first-ever design specifically inspired by the racing team, replete with a pair of cutting edge material innovations. The new limited-production Girard-Perregaux Laureato Absolute Chronograph Aston Martin F1 Edition blends aggressive sporty styling with two new carbon composite materials made from carbon reclaimed from the team’s 2021 racing chassis, creating a dramatic and innovative new way for enthusiasts to literally wear a piece of sporting history.

At 44mm-wide and 15.15mm-thick, the case of the Girard-Perregaux Laureato Absolute Chronograph Aston Martin F1 Edition should cut an imposing figure on the wrist, but its unique material will likely keep this design lightweight and comfortable. The familiar, sharply angular integrated form of the Laureato Absolute Chronograph Aston Martin F1 Edition is rendered in a proprietary blend of powdered titanium, resin, and reclaimed carbon elements from two of Aston Martin’s 2021 Formula 1 cars. This heterogeneous mix gives the cases a more chaotic, almost particle board-esque matte look in images, with a variety of gray and black tones shining through. Although the brand claims each case produced will be visually unique due to the process of using reclaimed carbon, the sample shown in images is also shot through with flecks of the team’s deep metallic British racing green, tying this design in subtly with the Formula 1 team without the need for overt branding. The black PVD titanium pushers also introduce a pop of the team’s trademark color scheme, with engraved accent stripes in lime green and British racing green for the 2 o’clock and 4 o’clock pushers respectively. Around back, Girard-Perregaux gives the watch its only overt Aston Martin branding with a printed team logo atop the sapphire display caseback (this also marks the first time a Laureato Absolute Chronograph model has been fitted with a display caseback). The brand rates the Laureato Absolute Chronograph Aston Martin F1 Edition for a solidly sporty 100 meters of water resistance.

The dial of the Girard-Perregaux Laureato Absolute Chronograph Aston Martin F1 Edition carries on the case’s style, paying stylish tribute to the race team without delving into explicit branding. The main dial surface takes on the team’s rich metallic British racing green hue, rendered here with a sunburst finish and an engraved diamond pattern crosshatch texture. This diamond pattern not only adds visual depth and complexity to the dial in images, but it also has a long history with the Aston Martin brand, stretching back to the 1921 iteration of its logo and continuing now as a stitch pattern for many of the company’s passenger car interiors. Girard-Perregaux cuts through this lustrous surface with judicious use of deep black, with elements like the steeply sloping outer rehaut and engraved subdial rings infusing the dial with another layer of contrast and complexity in images. Aston Martin’s vibrant lime green accent color makes another appearance on the dial as well, with both the chronograph minutes hand and the central chronograph seconds hand-delivering an energetic highlight to the layout. This chronograph seconds hand also gives the dial its last Aston Martin connection, with a counterweight shaped to resemble the brand’s famous oval fender vents. Overall, the Laureato Absolute Chronograph Aston Martin F1 Edition’s dial is striking and intricately finished, but its cutout date window at 4:30 feels like an afterthought in images and markedly disrupts the layout’s sense of visual balance.

Inside the Girard-Perregaux Laureato Absolute Chronograph Aston Martin F1 Edition beats the manufacture GP03300-1058 automatic chronograph movement. Girard-Perregaux richly decorates the GP03300-1058 in images, with tight perlage across the base plate, blued screws, Côtes de Genève and polished anglage for the bridges, and an engraved, gold-inlaid winding rotor topped with circular Côtes de Genève. The GP03300-1058’s performance is solid if unspectacular, with a 46-hour power reserve at a 28,800 bph beat rate.

Girard-Perregaux introduces yet another proprietary material for the Laureato Absolute Chronograph Aston Martin F1 Edition’s strap. This integrated, tapering strap is made from a material the brand refers to as Rubber Alloy, blending FKM rubber with additional carbon reclaimed from the 2021 Aston Martin Formula 1 racing chassis. The brand claims this hybrid material requires a complex technical manufacturing process, but that the resulting Rubber Alloy is both soft and immensely durable. The strap’s fabric-effect insert in British racing green neatly ties the design together in images, while further advancing the watch’s recurring emphasis on texture.

With a pair of proprietary material concepts, rich colors, and deftly integrated nods to the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team throughout, the new limited-run Girard-Perregaux Laureato Absolute Chronograph Aston Martin F1 Edition is a high-tech and thoughtfully executed tribute to one of Formula 1’s most interesting teams. Only 306 examples of the Girard-Perregaux Laureato Absolute Chronograph Aston Martin F1 Edition will be made, and the watch is available now through authorized dealers. MSRP for the Girard-Perregaux Laureato Absolute Chronograph Aston Martin F1 Edition stands at $27,800 as of press time. For more information, please visit the brand’s website.