The Legend of Gérald Genta: The Holy Trinity

By Tanmaya Kothari

Hello…. and welcome. Today I wanted to talk about one of the legends in watchmaking, the man himself Gérald Genta. As I referenced in my previous article, Genta has designed the holy trinity of watches, being the Patek Philip Nautilus, Audemars Piguet Royal Oak and Vacheron Constantine Overseas. These three are the most popular designs of Genta but the man has worked on other watches as well. His work with IWC, Omega SA, Bvlgari and Universal Genève is pretty known in the community as well. Christie’s auction house of New York has called Genta’s work “the Fabergé of watches”.

Born on May 1st 1931, Gérald Charles Genta was one of the most reputed watch designers ever graced this earth. Genta was born in Geneva to a Swiss mother and father of Piemonte (Northern Italian) descent. At age 20, Genta finished jewellery and goldsmith training in his native Switzerland, earning a Swiss federal diploma.

Subsequently, Genta was recruited by Universal Genève SA, at the time one of the most recognized manufactures in both the U.S. and Europe for its chronograph models. After Universal Genève settled a patent dispute involving the micro-rotor caliber, Genta designed Universal’s Polerouter Microtors in the 1950s, as well as the Golden and White Shadows during the mid-1960s. The Shadows contained a micro-rotor, unisonic and accutron movement, the latter two a result of the quartz crisis starting in the late 1960s.

Genta’s work with Universal would be a precursor to his collaborations with other Swiss watchmakers including Omega’s Constellation(1959), Patek Phillipe Golden Eclipse(1968), Audemars Piguet Royal Oak(1970), IWC Ingenieur(1976), Patek Phillipe Nautilus(1976), and Cartier Pasha de Cartier(1985).

In 1972, Gerald Genta designed the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, introducing the watch world to integrated steel luxary sports watches. With its steel case, octagonal bezel, “Tapisserie”/Waffle dial and integrated bracelet, the Royal Oak overturned the prevailing codes in 1972 and took its place as a modern icon.

With the rounded octagonal shape of its bezel, the ingenious porthole construction of its case, and its horizontally embossed dial, the Nautilus has epitomized the elegant sports watch since 1976. Forty years later, it comprises a splendid collection of models for men and women. In steel, rose gold, white gold or two-tone combinations they accompany the most active lifestyles with incomparable class. The design of the Nautilus was heavily inspired by the Royal Oak. Genta was directly involved in the designing of the Nautilus.

While not involved in the designing of the Vacheron Constatine Overseas, Genta is heavily credited for its design as both Royal Oak and Nautilus were direct inspiration for VC Overseas. Vacheron Constantin anticipated the emergence of sports watches at the end of the 19th century. Launched in 1977, Vacheron Constatine reference ‘222’, the watch featured the aesthetic and technical attributes of sports watches and a guaranteed water resistance of up to 120 meters. Since then, this piece, with its radically assertive codes, has never stopped evolving. In 2016, the Overseas collection was reinvented to embark on the discovery of new horizons.

So that was all about Gerald Genta and his contribution to the watch world. He was indeed a legend and even put on the pedestal of a GOD in eyes of many contemporary watch makers and watch collectors. The contributions of Genta revolutionised watchmaking by putting steel sports watches back in fashion and saved the industry with his designs from the “Quartz Crisis” of the 1960s. By pitching watches as luxury statement pieces rather than tool, the mechanical watch industry was prevented from collapsing in face of the new and more accurate Quartz.

By Tanmaya Kothari