What’s in a name? More specifically, what is a name worth? Gérald Genta, likely the most famous watch designer in history and responsible for conjuring iconic models from the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, the Patek Philippe Nautilus, the IWC Ingenieur, and the Universal Geneve Polerouter, among others, sold his eponymous watch brand and name to what is now Bulgari and LVMH in the early 2000s. Then he started another brand, using his middle name instead of his family name, and that became Gerald Charles. It was sold to the Ziviani family in Italy in 2003, while Genta remained employed at the company as chief designer until his death in 2011.
The brand continued producing mostly one-off, bespoke pieces on a small scale for wealthy clients until 2019, when Federico Ziviani, then in his early 20s, took over as Chief Executive Officer and pushed the Gerald Charles brand into a new phase. That would see it draw on designs from Genta’s era with the company, most specifically the ‘Maestro’ case, and sell watches to consumers, first online and then through retailers.