The most meticulous will count very precisely the two hundred and twenty-three pearls that adorn the dial of the Oursin watch, signed by the reborn label Gérald Genta and available – in a limited edition – by the end of the year. This is the very first model created on the occasion of the relaunch of this cult watchmaking house, announced by LVMH in April 2023. The luxury group has in fact integrated it into its watchmaking division, whose manufacture, La Fabrique du temps, is located in Meyrin, in the canton of Geneva (Switzerland).
For this revival collection, the house’s artisans have bet on a sure value: a new version of a model launched in 1994 and which has proven itself. Inspired by a family vacation in Corsica, Gérald Genta imagined at the time a timepiece all in curves and decorated with pearls in the style of spikes. “The Oursin watch is one of the few creations of which Gérald was most proud,” explains Evelyne Genta, widow of the designer and living memory of the universe developed by her husband.
The Oursin 2024 version is built around a convex titanium case, covered with rounded, conical or diamond pearls. The three models offered are available in white gold, pink gold and diamonds or yellow gold, with, in the center of the dial, a faceted crystal with an octagonal shape. “It’s a fascinating model for a designer because it has almost infinite creative potential, explains Matthieu Hegi, artistic director of La Fabrique du temps. The faceted ice pays tribute to Gérald Genta’s passion for the octagon.
Him, and him again
Gérald Genta, who died in 2011, is a big name in the watchmaking world. Nicknamed by the specialist press the “Picasso of watches”we owe him the design of some of the most iconic timepieces. The refresh of Omega’s famous Constellation range (1959) is his. The Royal Oak by Audemars Piguet (1972), with its octagonal case and eight screws, as well as the Nautilus by Patek Philippe (1976) with its subtly angular bezel, is also his. The Ingenieur by IWC (1976) and its screw-down bezel punctuated by five perforations? Another find by Gérald Genta… Also to his credit, the Bulgari Bulgari by the Italian house, with the double logo engraved around the bezel (1977), and the revival of the Pasha by Cartier, to which he gave a rounded shape, in 1985.
However, Gérald Genta did not immediately launch into watchmaking. Born in 1931 in Geneva to a Swiss mother and an Italian father, he initially turned to the profession of goldsmith, specializing in jewelry. “But that’s not what he fundamentally wanted to do, says Michel Navas today, master watchmaker and co-founder of La Fabrique du temps, sold to LVMH in 2011, and who worked for a long time with Gérald Genta. What interested him was drawing, the design of objects. So much so that he ended up launching his jewelry tools in the Rhône…” Here again, timepieces do not impose themselves on him immediately. “He wanted to be a car designer, continues Michel Navas. But since we are in Switzerland, and there is no automobile industry here, he turned to watches. » He was right to do so.
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