Gerald Charles Novelties For Watches and Wonders 2025

Gerald Charles, the brand that bears the name of legendary watch designer Gerald Genta, has used the platform of Watches and Wonders 2025 to unveil a range of new chronographs from their Maestro collection, each with their own bright splash of colour.

The new Maestro 3.0 Chronograph is intended as a remaster of a design Genta first sketched in 2008, drawing inspiration from the GC33 model.

It's available in two colours and case materials, with the case dictating the colour on offer. The two blends on offer are a Grade 5 titanium case, with a grey dial and white rubber strap, and a polished stainless steel option with an ice blue strap.

The titanium model features an anthracite finishing to the case that is achieved through a clever sandblasting technique called Darkblast that both adds a soft hue to the case colour but also improves scratch resistance. By comparison, the ice blue accents on the stainless steel model are there to add an air of sophistication.

Both models come with a 39 x 41mm case size and feature the same pyramidal chronograph pushers as Genta's original design. With this in mind, some noteworthy refinements have brought this watch into a more modern world, with sunburst finishing to the dial for extra dimension and the Clous de Paris dial motif for some added class. The strap also has a mini tapisserie pattern in homage to Genta's obsession with fine details.

This piece is powered by a Swiss Manufacture 3.0 movement, which is rated with up to 50 hours of power reserve, while this watch also has a rated 100m of water resistance.

The Maestro GC39 is a special model that has been unveiled to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Gerald Charles brand that Genta founded in 2000, to also coincide with wider celebrations that see the brand open its museum and archive pieces to the public for the first time.

As with the Maestro 3 - this 25th anniversary model is based on a previous Genta creation - the original GC39. This was originally made in 2005 and fitted with a sliding-hour complication where the hour is revealed on a rotating disc thanks to an aperture in the dial, as part of the 'window watch' or 'montre à guichet style'.

The Maestro GC39 25th Anniversary is fitted with a jumping-hour complication where the dial's hour disc jumps forward with every hour with a blued central hour hand that's skeletonised to allow light to shine through and reflect off it. This piece is powered by Gerald Charles' new Swiss Manufacture 4.0 calibre, which has been developed and patented in-house, requiring an additional 80 components over a more standard movement, and coming with a 50-hour power reserve.

The dial's striking, and almost hypnotic pattern is created with Gerald Charles' in-house and never-before-seen meta-guilloché process, which sees a fine engraving covered with a protective coating, before another engraving is added, and the coating removed. This allows it to catch light and reveal the hidden star motif in the dial. Beyond the silver outer edge is a piece of blue lapis lazuli as a tribute to Genta, given his love for the semi-precious stone. The dial is finished with a special logo to mark the 25th anniversary of the Gerald Charles brand.

It features a 42mm square case that makes this piece the largest watch in the Maestro collection, while the presence of a jumping-hour complication keeps the case thin at 11mm. It's also lightweight, given the choice of Grade 5 titanium for its material. It comes with 100m of water resistance and on a blue Clou de Paris rubber strap with a titanium deployant buckle. Unsurprisingly, the Maestro GC39 25th Anniversary is limited to 100 pieces, with only 40 available for immediate delivery.

Arguably the brightest piece in the new collection is the Gerald Charles Maestro GC Sport Tennis, a 200-piece limited edition designed to act as the perfect companion to a tennis game.

The Maestro GC Sport Tennis features echoes to the original 2005 model, complete with its signature Maestro case and Genta's original sketches that featured tennis and golf balls on the dial. It is testament to the brand's willingness to go back to its roots in its anniversary year.

This piece is also forward-looking, coming with the clever Darkblast titanium case for a darker hue that contrasts well with the bright yellow dial and colour-matched velcro strap. The dial itself features a similar texturing, designed to call back to the older Maestro GC Sport Clay and Grass models, which is achieved by taking a hand-hammered dial base and applying both a bright colour and clear coating to it to create an increasingly deep and three-dimensional dial.

This is being pitched as a proper sports watch, especially with its lightweight and durable titanium case that tips the scales at just 64g. Gerald Charles says it has been rigorously tested by tennis players, and it comes with a crown on the left side to prevent rubbing on the wrist during matches.

The movement powering the Maestro GC Sport Tennis is Gerald Charles' Manufacture 2.0 calibre, their high-performance in-house movement with up to 50 hours of power reserve. The rotor comes with a specially engraved 25th anniversary logo, which is unique to 2025, while this piece also has 100 metres of water resistance.