KEEPING THE LEGACY ALIVE

Gerald Charles, the last brand from one of watchmaking's foremost figures, is keeping alive its founder's legacy through timepieces that boast his indelible mark

- Somya Rauthan

The list of watch designer Gérald Charles Genta’s achievements is long, and it feels there’s never a time when he or his creations are not in the spotlight. Credited with designing some of the most iconic watches we know today, including the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, Patek Philippe Nautilus, Omega Constellation, Bvlgari-Bvlgari, IWC Ingenieur, and more, his namesake brand Gérald Genta is currently being revived by LVMH, with its watchmaking and design to be handled by Louis Vuitton La Fabrique du Temps. However, this isn’t the only brand that Genta established. In 2000, as a free expression of his creativity, Genta founded Gerald Charles, giving his first two names to the brand, to “establish a strong bond between him and his creations”, states the company website.

There’s another quote on the website on how Genta developed Gerald Charles. Taken from a 2005 catalogue of the brand, it states, “I created each of these timepieces with passion. As always since the beginning of my career, I have sought to combine technology and aesthetics. I searched for the ideal shape and used colours like a painter uses in his painting to present you with a timepiece that will give you a sense of pleasure each time your eyes are drawn to it. In keeping with this, Gerald Charles’s first collection, ‘Renaissance’, launched in 2001, featured tonneau-shaped watches in stainless steel, gold, and platinum. It included time and date models, chronographs, and tourbillons.

Shortly after, in 2003, Genta sold the company to close industry friend Giampaolo Ziviani, who joined as general manager, while Genta continued as the chief designer of the brand until his demise in 2011. Currently, Gerald Charles operates as an independent, family-owned brand, where Frederico Ziviani, Giampaolo’s nephew, joined as the CEO in 2019, and his father Franco is the chairman.