PARIS — Gérald Genta’s eponymous brand is picking up where the legendary watch designer left off with a first capsule by its in-house experimental design laboratory called Gentissima.
As an opening move, the Oursin design returns as the Gentissima Oursin capsule line, the first to be commercialized since the brand was revived by La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton in 2023.
For this 1994 design, Genta was inspired by sea urchins spotted during a family summer vacation in Corsica, turning their spiny features, particularly the beady tests they leave behind, into a round case. Only a handful were produced and their rarity makes them are a hotly sought-after collector item.
La Fabrique du Temps’s watchmaking artistic director Matthieu Hegi called the Oursin design as “a fascinating model for a designer, with an almost infinite creative potential.”
The tone-on-tone anthracite gray version with a guilloché dial and white gold spheres.
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For this new iteration, he accentuated the studded exterior using a blasted titanium case, which highlights the beads by creating a light and dark contrast. In keeping with Genta’s desire not to be too establishment, the brand name is used in lower case on the timepieces and elsewhere.
In addition to the case that gives the Oursin its telltale appearance, the watch also features a faceted crystal with a subtle octagonal design.
“[It] pays homage homage to Mr. Genta’s passion for the octagon, which is also hidden in the shape of the first, [which appears] round at first glance,” Hegi continued.
Available in a 36.5-millimeter size described by the brand as “a powerfully versatile diameter that draws from the ’90s dual pursuit of structured androgyny and voluptuous allure,” the watch comes in three variations featuring 223 beads set in a series of radially expanding halos on convex titanium cases.
There’s a tone-on-tone anthracite gray version with a guilloché dial and white gold spheres; one with a pink guilloché mother-of-pearl dial and diamond-studded rose gold elements dotting the outside, and a matte DLC-coated black take featuring a solid black dial and yellow gold spikes on the outside.
“The Oursin was among Gérald’s few creations that he was the proudest of; he would have loved those new versions,” said the designer’s widow and business partner Evelyne Genta. “They are perfect evolutions of Gérald’s original design, retaining yet furthering the Oursin’s inimitable style.”
Diamonds finish off the rose gold beads on the pink version.
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She has granted access to her late husband’s archive to the brand, which is incubated by La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton, originally founded by watchmakers Michel Navas and Enrico Barbasini. Both met while working for Genta and subsequently launched the workshop, purchased in 2011 by the French luxury brand.
While no cap has been made on the number of watches, the Gentissima Oursin will be available for a limited time. The gray version is priced at 19,000 Swiss francs, excluding taxes, while the spiked black and yellow gold version and the diamond-set pink gold model are 22,000 and 29,000 Swiss francs respectively.
The first watch produced since the brand’s revival is the one-of-a-kind Gérald Genta Only Watch 2023 Disney 100th Anniversary Mickey Mouse Retrograde Jumping Hour Minute Repeater, sold for charity at the Only Watch auction.
Gérald Genta took part in January’s LVMH Watch Week. At the time, Louis Vuitton director of watches Jean Arnault said the brand’s timepieces would be offered through a very select network of retail partners specialized in independent high watchmaking.
