Founder: Charles
Gérald Genta, one of the world’s most talented watch designers, was born in
1931 and died in 2011.
Country: Switzerland
History: Genta was
born in Geneva in 1931. By 1951 he had completed jewelry and goldsmith training
and shortly thereafter began working for Universal Genève SA, for whom he
designed the Polerouter Microtor. He also designed Golden and White Shadows for
them in the 1960s. Genta went on to design Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oak, Patek
Philippe’s Nautilus, IWC’s Ingenieur and Da Vinci, Omega’s Constellation and
Titane, Cartier’s Pasha, and the Bulgari-Bulgari. He launched the Gérald Genta
brand in 1969 and later created the Octo Granda Sonnerie Tourbillion, which had
four gongs and rang at each quarter and on the hour. The Grande Sonnerie Retro
of 1994 was called the world’s most-complicated wristwatch and had a price tag
of two million dollars. Genta created playful Disney-character watches in the
1980s that were much-celebrated. Many of Gérald Gent’s timepieces are among the
world’s most complicated. Bulgari acquired the brand in 1999.
Ambassadors: King Juan
Carlos and Queen Sofia of Spain, King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, England’s Queen
Elizabeth, a host of actors and musicians, and many others.