Gérald Genta BiRetro Jump Hour Ref. G.3734 - 'White 'Guilloche' MOP Dial Unpolished w/ Booklet

The story of Gerald Genta begins not as a company or brand, but as the vision of its namesake and founder, Gérald Genta. Beginning in the 1950s with Universal Genève, Genta quickly cemented his name as a go-to designer for new and bold designs for some of the most prestigious manufactures in Switzerland, including but not limited to Audemars Piguet, Patek Philippe, Rolex, and Omega. In the late 1960s, he sought a platform where his creativity would have no influence or restrictions from committee or convention and founded his own brand in 1969. He turned his attention to highly complicated, expressive, and often whimsical aesthetics, combines with traditional Swiss watchmaking.

The piece that we have here, a 'jump hour' from the 1990s, is an wonderfully-executed neo-vintage offering that is dripping with design characteristics closely associated with the brand: the stylized crown, black text on the dial, and the complication are all very Gerald Genta, while the actual case design and the guilloché dial echo another.

The yellow gold case measures 36mm in diameter and features 'coin-edge' profiles, very similar to that of what would be present on Breguet, along with straight, gently turned-down lugs, and a guilloché dial inside. At a glance, it looks white or maybe silver, but after a few seconds it becomes apparent that on top of the intricate guilloché finishing, it is also a 'mother of pearl' dial, with subtle traces of blue, pink, and green colors when viewed in different lighting. The 'jump hour' aperture is framed in yellow gold, with printed black indices throughout, and blued-steel 'sword' hands.

Powered by a modified, proven ETA automatic-winding movement, this piece comes fitted to its signed black leather strap withe signed yellow gold buckle and booklet.

These pieces are surprisingly rare and do not often surface on the open market, and with the rise in popularity of artistic, design-forward watches such as this showing no signs of stopping (good, we're here for it), this is a great opportunity to scoop up a piece packed with design pedigree, fantastic build quality, and simply well-rounded timepiece.