GÉRALD GENTA AND THE WATCH THAT LAUNCHED HIS CAREER

In 1954, at just 23 years of age, Gérald Genta created the Polerouter, a model that would lay the foundations for a spectacular artistic career in watch design, but also in the creation of paintings, sculptures and other unique watch-related creations.

Gérald Genta (1931-2011) was not only the most famous watch designer of all time, he was also the hardest worker. Every day, he worked tirelessly at his desk from six in the morning. According to his wife Evelyne Genta, complex and unique creations flowed from the tip of his pencil like water from a fountain. She estimates that he produced around 100,000 of them over the course of his career, which spanned more than six decades. "Whenever Gérald talked about his career, he'd start by mentioning the Polerouter and Universal Genève: that's where it all began," she says of the watch imagined by her late husband when he was just 23.

The son of Italian immigrants to Geneva hard hit by the Great Depression of the 1930s, Gérald Genta grew up in difficult conditions. During his childhood, his father worked one odd job after another to try and support his family. After school, Gérald often had to help his mother, who was almost blind, with daily chores. He didn't like school, especially after a teacher disparaged his Italian origins.

But he found a way to escape. According to The Maestro and His Art, he began painting in secret at the age of seven, on a wooden board cut out as a palette. From then on, he was torn between two worlds: that of free, artistic and colorful creation in which he would take refuge for hours on end, and that of success where he could offer his parents and himself a better life to his parents and himself.

These two worlds somehow came together when he began an apprenticeship as a jeweler. But once he had completed his training a few months later, the job became a source of frustration. Genta was unable to create the jewelry he so vividly imagined. Added to this were artistic conflicts with management, and one day Genta simply slammed the door, throwing his tools into the Rhône and vowing never to have a boss again.

To support himself, he took on odd creative jobs, dreaming of a career in fashion. But he soon realized that, despite its many assets, Geneva was neither Paris nor Milan. The Swiss city did, however, boast a thriving watchmaking industry in search of creativity. It's worth remembering that at the time, the term "designer" was virtually non-existent, and Universal Genève was one of the few brands to have an in-house creative department.

Inspired by the success of Raymond Loewy, considered the father of industrial design, Genta, then aged 20, produced designs that he sold speculatively to watch manufacturers. In his early days, Genta knocked on their doors and was often met with distrust. But if the manufacturers liked his designs, they would buy a few models at 15 francs apiece. It sounds incredible today, but that's how he won the trust of Audemars Piguet, who became a regular customer.

The reputation of the talented young designer soon reached the ears of Universal Genève, headed by the charismatic Raoul Perret. It's not known whether it was Perret himself who, in 1954, contacted Genta to design Universal Genève's Polarouter (renamed Polerouter in 1957). But it's highly likely, as Perret was heavily involved in the design of his company's devices.

The Genta watch developed for SAS airline pilots featured a complex two-layer dial and other functional aspects that made it resistant to shock, water, dust and, above all, antimagnetic - a necessity for early commercial flights over the North Pole.

The Polerouter would launch Genta's career. He would go on to design or redesign such iconic watches as the Omega Constellation (1959), Audemars Piguet Royal Oak (1973), Patek Philippe Nautilus (1976), IWC Ingenieur (1976), Bulgari Bulgari (1977) and Cartier Pasha (1985). Several would even give birth to an entirely new genre: luxury steel sports watches.

At just 23, he made design history with the Polerouter, creating clean, timeless lines. His links with one company in particular, however, were less enduring. "He collaborated with Universal Genève for a long time, but he was never employed there," explains Evelyne. "He didn't like being salaried, anywhere."

Parallel to his designs for other houses, Genta founded his own eponymous brand in 1969. His raison d'être: exceptional, original watches for a select clientele. Crowned heads and sultans from Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Oman, England, Spain and Brunei, as well as business leaders and sports stars, were among the brand's customers. Many of these watches were unique creations, some produced in small series. Genta's ingenuity was on full display in models like the Gefica Safari and Grande Sonnerie.

Later, Genta also revealed his playful side by incorporating cartoon characters like Mickey Mouse and the Pink Panther on the dials, with rotating hands indicating the time. These watches quickly became icons of popular culture.

In 1996, he sold his brand, as explained in the book "Le Maestro et son art", because it had become a cumbersome corporate structure rather than a space for artistic creation. But Genta couldn't stop designing watches, and throughout his career he continued to paint and sculpt for art exhibitions. He also created superb clocks and automata.

"Gérald was twenty years ahead of his time, and his creations were always unique," said Evelyne. "He drew his inspiration from architecture and nature, from artists like Dalí, Miró, Picasso, Anish Kapoor - but never from other watches."

On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the PolerouterOn November 15, 2024, Universal Genève unveiled three unique tribute models. For many collectors, this was long-awaited recognition for a watch that launched the career of the greatest watchmaker of all time.

Evelyne Genta is delighted with this recent revival of her late husband's legacy: the Polerouter, the relaunch of Genta's eponymous brand by LVMH (owner of the Gérald Genta brand since 2000) with the support of the Association du Patrimoine Gérald Genta, as well as various 50th anniversary commemorative models that gave birth to the new genre of luxury steel sports watches.

As Evelyne Genta pointed out, "It's wonderful, and as Gérald always said that Universal Genève Polerouter was the starting point for everything, I'm sure he would have been delighted. It's sad that he's no longer here to enjoy it. I'm sure he would have been happy."