It’s hard to imagine that arguably the most significant watches of the 20th century all flowed from the pen of one man, Gérald Genta . To name just a few: Audemars Piguet Royal Oak , the watch that sent the industry in a whole new direction, the Patek Philippe Nautilus , the IWC Ingenieur , the Universal Geneve Polerouter , the Rolex King Midas ..
.the list could go on and on. Like Ernest Hemingway , Frank Lloyd-Wright and Andy Warhol, the product designer Genta emerges from the 20th Century as a towering figure in his field.
But unlike his fellow artists, few outside of watchmaking circles know his name. We may never see such dominance again from a designer, especially because in-house teams have largely ousted the freelance ringer. However, during the post-WWII decades when he was active, Europeans and Americans still championed the lone genius above all else, and Genta became a brand in his own right : a man sought out by the thriving luxury industry to titillate the jet-set with elite, forward-thinking products ranging from eyeglasses for Cartier to a long list of paradigm-shifting watches, most of which are thriving as current offerings today.
Born in Geneva in 1931, Genta earned his Swiss Federal Diploma as a jeweler and goldsmith in 1951 at age 20. By 23, Genta was designing watches for the storied watch house Universal Genève. Today, collectors herald his Universal Genève Polerouter of the 1950s and the Golden and White Shadows of the 1960s as classics of the e.