The Genta Era

August 2012 marks the one year death anniversary of Gerald Genta, one of the world’s most iconic watch designers. Gerald Genta was eighty when he passed on. In his lifetime, Genta earned the distinction of being the only watch designer whose name brand owners used to sell the models. Before him, watch designers were an anonymous lot! Gerald Genta created classics like Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, Patek Philippe Nautilus, Bulgari Bulgari, Pasha de Cartier, IWC Ingenieur SL and IWC DaVinci watches. All this and a lot more too with his own brand Gerald Genta, all of it in one lifetime!

Early years

Gerald Charles Genta was born in 1931 to an Italian immigrant father and Swiss mother. In his early years, his studied art but his parents vehemently opposed the idea of him becoming an artist. Instead, he trained as an apprentice in jewellery-making. It is said that once he graduated he walked across to a well known bridge on the Rhone River in the heart of Geneva, threw his jewellery-making tools into the river and took two oaths. First, that he would never again become a goldsmith and second, he will never work as anyone’s subordinate. He kept both these oaths till he died.

Watch design

In the 1950s and ‘60s, there was no place for independent watch designers. Indeed, designing watches instead of movements was never seen as a job for a skilled professional. They were almost always given to a set of in-house artists to visualise. And then, the engineering designers and manufacturers took over. Genta got his first assignment with Universal. It is widely known but rarely acknowledged that the Omega Constellation, in its early generation in the late ‘50s was actually designed by Genta. His wife, Evelyne Genta who later became Monaco’s Consul General in London and is also considered an authority on Genta’s early designs confirms that he indeed designed not only Constellations but some other Seamasters for Omega in the ‘60s. In his days of anonymity, Genta also designed Patek Philippe’s hugely popular model, the Golden Ellipse. Then in 1969, Genta formed his own company and rewrote the history of Horology all over again after Breguet!

Big break

In 1970, Paul-Louis Audemars and his son Jacques-Louis commissioned Gerald to design a sporty, stainless steel wrist watch. Prior to this, Audemars Piguet had crafted nothing in stainless steel and sports watches had the reputation of being inexpensive and only meant for sportsmen. Genta worked on some sketches overnight and presented them to the Piguet family. They were aghast but wise enough to sign up Genta on an exclusive basis for the next five years.

The gold and platinum jewellery makers in the AP Factory revolted at the thought of working on stainless steel. Genta remained insistent on working towards perfection. It is said that the manufacture got the first Royal Oak assembly right after 18 attempts. Audemars Piguet audaciously launched the watch for 3750 Swiss Francs in 1972. They were hoping to make a killing out of a limited sales potential of around 5000 watches. By the 30th anniversary in 2002, Royal Oak was the best selling model from AP and had crossed 150,000 in sales. Down the road, and making serious departure from an early brief given to Genta, AP was manufacturing Royal Oaks in gold, platinum, tantalum and carbon.

Genta knew that his future lay in sports watches. Also, he got deeply enamoured by the octagonal shape that he gave to Royal Oak. Once Audemars Piguet’s exclusive contract got over, others began to knock on Genta’s door.

The Nautilus

Patek Philippe was known to be very creative in its designs. By 1976, Genta had already acquired his own manufactory and design centre in Le Brassus. Genta was aware of the fact that many members of the Stern family, who owned Patek Philippe, were sailors of considerable repute. He smartly designed a sporty watch in steel that had porthole shaped bezel and a polygon formed by several curved segments. Nautilus was first created in Genta’s Le Brassus workshop and became a huge hit for Patek Philippe. During the same year, Genta also designed IWC’s iconic model Ingenieur SL which in its essential structure of seamless watch and bracelet bonding borrows the design philosophy of Royal Oak.

Subsequently in 1985, IWC once again worked with Genta to create one more iconic brand called Da Vinci.

Bulgari Bulgari

Despite Genta’s personal friendship with Gianni Bulgari, his design met serious resistance from the Bulgari family. They felt that “Genta’s design was totally incompatible with the Bulgari brand image and that the model will be impossible to sell.” Genta’s own conviction was that “brand owners either misjudge or really don’t understand the true personality of new products.” He pursued convincing the Bulgari family. Thirty years later, the imprint and style of the Bulgari Bulgari watch has become the hallmark of the entire Bulgari range of not only watches but jewellery as well.

So strong was the tie between the Bulgari family and Genta that when they came to know that Genta has sold his brand to Singapore’s Hour Glass Group, Bulgari acquired the brand rights in 2000. Soon thereafter Bulgari itself was acquired by LVMH. Today all branded products under the name of Gerald Genta come out of the LVMH stable.

Cartier Pasha

Genta was aging but was still brimming with more creative design ideas. He teamed up with Cartier to create Cartier Pasha. Luis Cartier had originally designed Pasha as a sporty, water-proof watch for the Pasha of Marrakesh. Genta reworked the design to create the structure of the new Pasha. The model has become one of the hottest selling sub-brands from the Cartier stable.

Celebrities

Genta’s products received huge celebrity endorsements through the ages. Prince Rainier III of Monaco, King Hassan II of Morocco, King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, The Queen of England and King Juan Carlos of Spain all proudly wore Gerald Genta products.

Late in his career, as he shuttled between his homes in London and Monaco, Genta began to concentrate on watches that were created under his brand name. Genta’s Quantieme Perpetual and his Jumping Hour are illustrations of his design genius. In one of his interviews, Genta summed up his design philosophy as, “many of my watches represent the rupture between a brand’s past and its future.” In the words of Audemars Piguet CEO Georges Golay, “Royal Oak is not an Audemars Piguet. Today, it has become our identity.”

An Indian connection

Genta had a great affinity for the Orient and travelled to Asia many times. One of the best kept secrets is that in the ‘90s, Gerald Genta designed a range of Titan watches meant for distribution in Europe. Titan will do great service to serious watch lovers to reintroduce the models to India and the world.

(The author is a Horological historian)

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