The most discerning will be able to accurately count the 223 pearls that adorn the dial of the Oursin watch, designed by the resurgent brand Gérald Genta and available – in a limited edition – at the end of the year. It is the first model created to mark the relaunch of this cult watchmaking house, announced by LVMH in April 2023. Indeed, the luxury group has integrated it into its watchmaking division, whose manufacture, La Fabrique time, is located in Meyrin, in the canton of Geneva (Switzerland).
For this revamped collection, the house’s craftsmen have focused on a sure value: a new version of a model launched in 1994 that has proven itself. Inspired by family holidays in Corsica, Gérald Genta imagined a rounded watch with quilted pearls. “The Oursin watch is one of the few creations of Gérald that he is most proud of.” specifies Evelyne Genta, the designer’s widow 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 proposed are available in white gold, pink gold and diamonds or in yellow gold, with an octagonal-shaped faceted crystal at the centre of the dial. “It is 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 crystal pays tribute to Gérald Genta’s passion for the octagon. »
Him and him again.
Gérald Genta, who passed away in 2011, is a great name in the world of watchmaking. Dubbed by the specialist press as the “Picasso of clocks”We owe him the design of some of the most iconic watches. The update of the famous Omega Constellation range (1959) is him. The Royal Oak by Audemars Piguet (1972), with its octagonal case and eight screws, like the Nautilus by Patek Philippe (1976) with a subtly angular bezel, is him again. The Ingenieur by IWC (1976) and its screwed bezel with five perforations? Another discovery 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 completely new shape . . in curves, in 1985.
However, Gérald Genta did not immediately turn to watchmaking. Born in 1931 in Geneva to a Swiss mother and an Italian father, he first turned to goldsmithing, specialising in jewellery. “But that’s not what I fundamentally wanted to do, says today Michel Navas, 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 throwing his jewelry tools into the Rhône…” Once again, watches do not immediately prevail. “I wanted to be a car designer, continues Michel Navas. But since we are in Switzerland and there is no car industry here, he turned to watches. » Good luck to him.
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