Gerald Charles Masterlink Gem-Set Watch Review
The Gerald Charles Masterlink Gem-Set bears the name of the highly influential maestro who designed many iconic watches, including the Royal Oak, Nautilus and Ingenieur SL. This latest model, designed by Octavio Garcia, Creative Director of Gerald Charles, tastefully unites a steel case, a two-level dial, an ergonomic bracelet and the judicious use of gems.
Établissage
Before the late 1960s, most watches didn’t start with a blank sheet of paper. You got a casemaker to show you some cases, nipped down the road to have lunch with your local dialmaker’s managing director, they’d mention so-and-so had a new range of hands, and you went to Ebauches SA (later ETA) for your movements. For example, the ‘rep’ from casemaker Piquerez who sold Heuer the Monaco’s square case was as responsible as Jack Heuer for turning the watch into an icon.
Gérald Genta (1931-2011)
That’s the world in which Gérald Genta (the founder, in 2000, of Gerald Charles) started his working life. He began, like many other dial and case specialists, making his living designing watch components, but went on to become the first rockstar watch designer. And he did it by changing the way watches were designed – he started looking at a watch as a whole and designing it as a piece.
You can see the start of his thinking from his early stint at Universal Genève, where he penned the Polerouter. Moving on, Genta worked with Omega on dials and cases (he did both for the ref. 14900, the ‘classic’ Constellation, and the ref. 168.009, the ‘C’ Constellation) and he also had a hand in the unique 1980s titanium and gold Seamaster Polaris.
Moreover, he was the man behind popularising the integrated bracelet watch – the sort you see here. His design for the Royal Oak in 1972 – really the first watch where the bracelet was designed along with the case – was sketched overnight in response to a commission from AP’s managing director at the time, Georges Golay.
Design was still a trade – the idea of a designer’s name boosting exclusivity and price hadn’t really taken off. That meant designers were often paid piecework. At the start of his career, Genta’s designs sold for 15 francs (about £50 today), so it was a simple choice between working prolifically or not eating.
This perhaps explains why, over his career, he drew more than 100,000 designs that ranged from the bogglingly intricate, such as the prototype 1981 design of a skeletonised open face complicated watch, to simple two-handers for Bulgari. Every one is different, yet all have his trademark look.
Gerald Charles Masterlink Gem-Set – Octavio Garcia
Given the eponymous founder’s form with designing integrated bracelet watches, it’s fitting that Gerald Charles’s creative director, Octavio Garcia, and his team should have taken Genta’s Maestro from 2006, slimmed it down, squared it off and given it an integrated bracelet. The result is the watch you see here – the Masterlink. Neat branding too – the old Maestro handing on to the new Master.
Gerald Charles Masterlink Gem-Set – sapphires or tsavorites
Although it’s lost weight, it’s recognisably Gentaseque with the characteristic Borromini curves still present and its ‘smile’ at six. And now the firm has added baguette-cut sapphires (or tsavorites) to the dial and bezel, inspired by the frankly bonkers and wonderful Sarawak.
The Sarawak was a unique watch designed by Genta in 2007, appropriately enough for the Royal Family of Sarawak. Like a Tiffany’s Christmas Eve window but with more diamonds, the case, dial and bracelet carried over 15 carats of precious stones – round diamonds and baguette rubies – and weighed in at more than €1 million. If there was ever a watch designed for wearing around the palace, the Sarawak is it.
Its own silver dial, white gold bezel and 60 baguette-cut sapphires (or tsavorites, if they’re more your thing) hardly make the Gerald Charles Masterlink Gem-Set the puritan’s watch of choice, but it’s no blingfest either. The gems aren’t the sort of rocks that’ll take your eye out, instead they strike the right balance between ornament and restraint.
Those signature case curves haven’t made life easy for the gem-setters. Look at the stones at the edges of the dial’s base – you can see how each stone has been cut slightly differently to fit. Look also at the two different types of settings. The stones on the dial aren’t pavé (invisibly set so they don’t snag your shirt) like those on the bezel. Instead, each of the 13 baguette-cut stones (double at 12) is retained in an individual applied mount and then affixed to the dial.
Gerald Charles Masterlink Gem-Set – case
Here’s the thing though. The 316L surgical steel case (satin-brushed and polished) alone is made up of 31 components. The bezel is white gold (you try setting stones in stainless steel). And despite a Hatton Gardensworth of stones around the bezel, the watch is water resistant to 100 m. You could take your Masterlink for a dip without a care in the world – at least, not for fear of water ingress. Let’s face it, luxury ain’t proper luxury if you’re constantly worrying about getting it a bit damp.
There’s a real talent to designing a watch that – stones aside – actually seems pretty simple, but take a closer look and you’ll find all sorts of interesting elements. For example, the crown isn’t round, it’s square (Watchgods, forgive us if we refer to it as ‘quartic’ – those of a certain age will understand) with a clous de paris (hobnailed) finish, so it’s easy to grip and turn.
The dial looks striped, but it’s actually double layered with the ‘stripes’ being applied, so there’s real visual depth. Very Genta-esque.
Gerald Charles Masterlink Gem-Set – bracelet
Then there’s the bracelet. For a start, it comes in three lengths so you can match it to your wrist size: 157 mm (small), 205 mm (medium) and 222 mm (large). Couldn’t you just add or take out a few links to make a standard size fit? No, you’d spoil its lines when affixed to your wrist. However, it is possible to finely adjust the size of each bracelet, courtesy of the screws hidden at the rear of each link. And the finish on the rear of the bracelet is every bit as good as the public-facing front. The clasp is also hidden.
See how the top and bottom halves of the bracelet are different? Above 12 o’clock, each link is straight-edged. Adjacent to 6 o’clock, each link has a slightly different curved radius, gently decreasing as it approaches the hidden clasp. Pressing the flanks of the bracelet, adjacent to the clasp, allows you to remove the watch from the wrist.
Gerald Charles Masterlink Gem-Set – movement
The calibre 1.01 (a GCA 5401 movement variant) is crafted by Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier. You’ll have seen their movements in watches by makers such as Parmigiani Fleurier, Hermes and Czapek.
A watch like this relies on an active strategy of pie-avoidance to keep its lines; a chubby Masterlink simply wouldn’t work. At the same time, being an automatic watch means finding space for a winding rotor – and centrally-mounted rotors add bulk. So the movement with its unidirectional micro-rotor proves a smart choice, measuring a fraction over 2.5 mm thick. It manages to pack in 50 hours of power reserve, ticks at 21,600 vph (3Hz) and is a bit of a beauty. Practical and long-lasting too – the rotor runs on 18 tiny ceramic ball bearings.
The balance is free-sprung, using gold inertia weights to adjust the rate. Where other variants of the movement see the bridges and balance cock finished with Côtes de Genève rayonnantes, radiating from the balance, here they’re straight, matching the dial’s striped pattern. And it’s not just where you can see exposed movement components through the sapphire caseback – the undersides are finished too. The bridges themselves are black rhodium-finished.
Closing remarks
It’s hard to look at a watch like this and say it’s an everyday-wearer, but it’s certainly practical and robust enough to be. And, despite half a mineful of stones, it still manages not to be too shouty.
CEO Federico Ziviani probably sums it up best. “This is not an ostentatious piece, but the ultimate in discreet luxury,” he says. “Luxury means comfort, and the Masterlink is designed to feel perfect, no matter the occasion – even while swimming.”
Further reading
Technical specifications
- Model: Gerald Charles Masterlink Gem-Set
- Reference: ML1.0-SSPS-WG31-18GS-SBCL (blue gem set)
- Reference: ML1.0-SSPS-WG32-18GS-SBCL (red gem set)
- Reference: ML1.0-SSPS-WG43-18GS-SBCL (green gem set)
- Case: stainless steel, dimensions 38 mm x 38 mm, thickness 7.99 mm, water resistance 10ATM (100 m), sapphire crystal to the front and exhibition case back.
- Functions: Hours, minutes
- Movement: 1.0 Caliber, self-winding movement, frequency 21,600 vph (3 Hz), 29 jewels, power reserve 50 hours, 176 components
- Bracelet: stainless steel, supplied in 3 sizes: 157 mm (small), 205 mm (medium) and 222 mm (large). Features a micro-link for finer adjustment of the bracelet. Folding clasp with hexagonal plate, engraved with ‘GC’. Hidden external pushers integrated in the last 2 clasp links
- Price upon request
- Limited Edition: 10 pieces each