The designer has become an elevated figure in our ever-more visual world. Graphic artists are achieving overnight success through the creation of NFT artworks, while those who tell us what to wear in the realm of fashion appear to be in higher demand than ever before. As in many aspects, the watch world appears to be a few decades behind. It’s only in the last 20 years or so that designing watches has become a desired, lucrative or lauded role.

Such was the struggle of a young Gérald Genta. Half Swiss, half Italian, he seemed to effortlessly straddle the aesthetic and horological worlds better than any who came before – yet there was a time where he would have to sell his designs for 10 CHF a piece. As this suggests, there is far more to the creative work of Genta than the Royal Oak and Nautilus that he is so well known for today. Whether it was the work he was carrying out for other manufacturers, the vision he pushed forward with his own brand, or the limited runs and one-offs he put together for clients, his creativity and eye for beauty never ceased.

“He was an artist first and a watch designer second,” Alexia Genta, Gérald’s daughter, tells us. His artistic bent was immediately apparent – in fact, if you walk into his wife Evelyne’s current office, the first thing you will likely see is a large oil-on-canvas painting that he did. “He would paint every morning,” Evelyne tells us, “and then for a period of time he would do a painting in the morning and a watch in the afternoon.” While many artists might have an unfair reputation for leading a lax lifestyle, only creating when inspiration strikes, this could never have been said for Genta. His work ethic and drive were unmatched in his space.

Those who have read into Genta’s past will understand the origin of this drive: he had a very poor upbringing, once telling Evelyne, “I know the taste of poverty.” When he was first starting out as a watch designer, he would get in his car and drive around the major watchmaking regions of Switzerland, from La Chaux-de-Fonds to Le Brassus, and anywhere else that had a workshop willing to buy. According to Evelyne, often he would knock on the door and the watchmaker would open a little hatch, through which he would pass a stack of designs.