Gerald Charles Maestro 2.0 Premier 2021 Edition Watch Review
The Gerald Charles Maestro 2.0 Premier 2021 Edition is a generously proportioned watch, endowed with a bewitching emerald green dial and refined Vaucher movement. Once again, we are reminded of the genius of Gerald Charles Genta.
Gérald Genta – watch designer extraordinaire
The name, Gérald Genta will be familiar to most watch aficionados. During his life, he was a prolific designer of fine watches. His mastery of aesthetics was exceptional with many horophiles considering him to be the most accomplished watch designer of all time.
Born in Geneva in 1931, Genta designed the Omega Constellation, IWC Ingenieur SL, Patek Philippe Nautilus, Bulgari Bulgari and, most notably, the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak. He also worked for a myriad of other watch brands and throughout his life he is said to have designed over 100,000 timepieces. Despite his passing in 2011, his legend lives on with several of his designs continuing to be made. In fact, some of the watches he designed remain best sellers with legions of potential buyers willing to join lengthy queues just to acquire one of his creations.
Genta was always willing to break free of established watchmaking norms. His Royal Oak model was highly unusual with its octagonal bezel and prominent screw heads. Moreover, he chose to house the inaugural Royal Oak in steel when noble metals were de rigueur.
Gérald Genta established his own eponymous company in 1969
The legendary designer launched his own eponymous company in 1969, Gérald Genta. His timepieces included models endowed with retrograde indications and even a Grand Sonnerie with chimes that resembled those of Big Ben. The Maison, Gérald Genta was acquired by Bulgari in 2000 and this iconic brand name continues to feature on some of Bulgari’s modern-day models.
Gerald Charles depuis 2000
Monsieur Genta’s full name was ‘Gerald Charles Genta’ and in 2000, he established a new company, employing his two forenames. The first model to be produced by the Gerald Charles brand was the Renaissance (2001). Five years later, in 2006, Gerald Charles released a concept watch, termed the Maestro. It skilfully blended square and octagonal forms, putting in place the design codes for future models.
Gerald Charles Maestro 2.0 Premier 2021 Edition – design
Now there is a new Maestro, the 2.0 Premier 2021 Edition. This timepiece is housed in an 18-carat rose gold case with an elegantly slender profile that measures 8.7mm in height. The shape of the case is inspired by a 17th-century monument, located in Rome, and incorporates an unusual ‘smile’ at 6 o’clock where the case adopts irregular curving lines.
The emerald green dial is suffused with a sunburst motif, matching the rubber strap that incorporates a Clous de Paris motif. At the heart of the watch is an automatic movement made by high-end movement specialist, Vaucher.
The Gerald Charles Maestro 2.0 Premier 2021 Edition demonstrates, once again, that Genta’s name will continue to endure for generations to come.
Gerald Charles Maestro 2.0 Premier 2021 Edition – brand’s press release (March 2021)
Lugano, 11 March 2021 Today, the independent watch company Gerald Charles is delighted to announce the Maestro 2.0 Premier 2021 Edition, Ref. GC2.0-RG-02. The 25-piece limited-edition marks the beginning of a new chapter in the story of Maestro, an original design created by the great Monsieur Gérald Charles Genta, who founded the company in 2000.
The Maestro 2.0 Premier 2021 Edition is a special watch. Its combination of an ultra-thin 18-carat gold case and emerald green dial and strap will be a one-off, and each piece in the run will be defined by engravings on the case back showing the limited-edition number and the words ‘Premier 2021’. While there will be future rose-gold Maestro designs, no version of this watch will ever be quite the same, hence the Premier 2021 Edition designation.
Developing the Maestro 2.0 case – where art and innovation meet
The striking Maestro case is unique in watchmaking. Inspired by a 17th-century monument in Rome built by the Italian architect Francesco Borromini, it’s defined by its irregular shape and the ‘smile’ at 6 o’clock, a reflection of the concavity of the monument’s façade.
The Maestro 2.0 case has been subtly, but significantly updated to push elegance to its limits. The overall form, which is forged out of eight pieces of solid 18-carat rose gold, has been slimmed down to 8.7 mm, a reduction of 3mm compared to the standard Maestro collection pieces. The iconic smile is now broader, too.
To achieve this level of thinness, the flange around the edge of the dial has been reduced, which has the added benefit of drawing the eye deeper into the dial. The lugs have also been redesigned so the case back and strap sit in line with one another, creating a seamless profile that makes the watch sit flatter on the wrist.
These carefully considered details further enhance the Maestro’s ergonomics and its status as a sophisticated, versatile sports watch, while the words ‘Premier 2021’ on the sapphire crystal identify this exclusive limited-edition watch.
Reducing the thickness of this new case presented Gerald Charles engineers with a technical challenge: how to deliver 100 metres of water resistance in a gold watch with an irregular-shaped crystal? Through a process of research and development that continued during the global pandemic of 2020, Gerald Charles technicians and engineers innovated a bespoke system that ensured equal pressure around the edge of the sapphire crystal and 100 metres of water resistance, a singular engineering achievement. A screw-down 18-carat rose gold crown, with a Clous de Paris finish, further protects the watch.
A high-calibre movement for a slimline sports watch
For a movement that would conform to the Maestro 2.0 Premier 2021 Edition’s slimline profile and Gerald Charles’s passion for haute horlogerie, the Maison turned to its partner, the high-end Swiss movement specialists Vaucher.
At just 3.7 mm thick and finished according to Gerald Charles’s exacting standards in hand-finishing, the specially customised Calibre Ref. GCA3002 automatic is a highly sophisticated ultra-thin movement that showcases the best of Swiss fine watchmaking. Gerald Charles’s watchmakers worked with Vaucher to maximise the movement’s accuracy and 50-hour power reserve, and to improve vibration and shock resistance.
The movement, which has a bi-directional rotating 18-carat rose-gold rotor set on a low-friction ceramic ball bearing system, provides the watch with hour, minute and sweep central seconds hands, and a date function, seen through a window carefully positioned above the 6 o’clock hour marker. Visible through a sapphire crystal case back, it’s a highly sophisticated Swiss Made automatic, presented without compromise.
Detailing a bespoke finish
Alongside its 18-carat rose gold case, the Maestro 2.0 Premier 2021 Edition has a sunburst dial in an emerald green colour developed exclusively for the watch.
That same colour informs the vulcanised rubber strap. Producing rubber in this colour presented its own challenges, met through further research and development. The strap is finished with a Clous de Paris decoration on the top side, from an original design by Monsieur Genta, and with Gerald Charles logo tapisserie on the reverse. The effect is one of casual, sophisticated luxury.
Gerald Charles Maestro 2.0 Premier 2021 Edition – technical information
- Gerald Charles Maestro 2.0 Premier 2021 Limited Edition, Ref. GC2.0-RG-02
- Case 18-carat rose gold, 39 mm x 41.7 mm, screw-down 18-carat rose-gold crown with Clous de Paris finish and embossed logo, anti-glare sapphire crystal, brushed rose-gold case back with anti-glare sapphire crystal and special engravings, water-resistant to 100m
- Dial Sunburst emerald green, rose-gold hands and indexes filled with Super-LumiNova®
- Movement Ultra-thin automatic, 3.7 mm, 189 components, 28 rubies, 28,800 vph, (4 Hz), 50-hour power reserve from twin barrels, anti-shock system, Incabloc® stop-second system, 18-carat rose-gold bi-directional rotating rotor with ceramic ball bearing, hours, minutes and central seconds, date at 6 o’clock, circular-grained and Côtes de Genève decoration.
- Strap Emerald green vulcanised rubber, Clous de Paris finish to top side, Gerald Charles logo tapisserie to rear, rose-gold buckle.
About Gerald Charles
Gerald Charles is an independent, family-owned Swiss watch company based in Lugano. It was founded in 2000 by the great Gérald Charles Genta, the 20th century’s foremost watch designer.
Monsieur Genta, often referred to simply as ‘Maestro’, was a prolific artist and watch designer. After selling the company in 2003, he stayed on as its designer-in-chief until his death in 2011, leaving a treasure trove of watch designs in the company’s care.
Every watch created by Gerald Charles is based on one of his original designs and carries his legacy of ‘artistic creativity, technical mastery’ forward into the future. Gerald Charles’s exclusive collection of watches is produced without compromise, and according to the finest traditions of Swiss mechanical watchmaking.