Maestro GC Sport

Gerald Charles introduces the titanium GC Sport

The elegant, lightweight GC Sport has been engineered for wear while playing sport, and approved by three of the Maison’s friends on the ATP Tour®*

The Maison Gerald Charles begins 2022 with the GC Sport, an elegant, high-performance sports watch based on the inimitable Maestro, the iconic wristwatch designed by the great Monsieur Gérald Charles Genta.

The GC Sport combines lightweight, robust architecture with traditional fine watchmaking techniques, honouring Monsieur Genta’s legacy of ‘artistic creativity, technical mastery’. The watch has been designed for every moment in life and tested and approved by some of the world’s most successful professional athletes.

During 2021, Gerald Charles designers and engineers worked with a trio of ATP Tour®* tennis players, friends of the Maison, to create the ultimate elegant sports watch.

The idea was to create a fine wristwatch that could be worn on both the field of play and at a gala dinner. After months of testing on tennis courts around the world, the Maison delivered a beautiful, highly technical watch with a number of modifications compared to the Gerald Charles Maestro 2.0 Ultra-Thin.

The first is in the watch’s 39mm case, which here is cast in polished Grade 5 titanium, a material that’s as hard as steel, but 40 per cent lighter. The polished finish was chosen for its elegant, classic feel. Next, the watch’s screw-down crown has moved from the right to the left side of the case to prevent rubbing during play, following feedback from the players.

The Gerald Charles GCA3002 automatic manufacture movement has also been specially adapted in collaboration with the Maison’s partner Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier. It has been made stronger and up to 40 per cent more resistant to shocks and stresses caused by high-impact movements.

The rotor has been evolved, too. It is now more resistant, so that it doesn’t wind the movement too quickly during intense physical exercise, or risk overwinding it.

Through bespoke testing, a series of fine adjustments were also made to the movement’s architecture. By varying the tolerances in the screws, for example, watchmakers were able to make the movement more shock-resistant, without afecting its accuracy or long-term performance. The changes are similar to the adjustments an engineer would make to a car’s suspension to cater for diferences in terrain.

This additional shock-resistance has been achieved without adding a shock absorber and while retaining the movement’s ultra-thin, 3.7mm profile.

The movement was also adapted to accommodate the 180-degree revolution required to set the crown on the left side of the case. The most significant change was to the date wheel, which required a bespoke solution to ensure it would align to the new layout.

In keeping with the Maison’s fine watchmaking traditions, the movement is classically decorated with Côtes de Genève and visible through a sapphire case back. The watch is just 8mm thick and as with every piece in the contemporary Gerald Charles collection, it’s water-resistant to 100 metres.

The GC Sport has a striking, playful royal blue dial with applied Arabic numerals at 3, 9 and 12, which were chosen to capture the watch’s sportier character. Gerald Charles artisans applied several layers of colour to the dial so that it would reflect diferent colours depending on the light conditions. In warm light it looks violet; in cold light, ice blue; in full sunlight, light blue; and as darkness falls, almost black.

The dial and case are complemented by a royal blue vulcanised rubber strap, decorated with the Maison’s signature Clous de Paris motif.

The strap has a Grade 5 titanium ‘smile-shaped’ pin buckle decorated with the Gerald Charles logo and finished with a stepped motif, subtly mirroring the design of the watch’s case.

The players commented that the watch was extremely comfortable to wear on court thanks to its ergonomic case design, hypoallergenic rubber strap and robust, lightweight construction. The whole watch weighs just 50 grams.

‘Every Gerald Charles watch has to be sporty elegant and the GC Sport is a powerful expression of these values,’ said Gerald Charles General Manager Federico Ziviani.

‘It’s been approved by professional tennis players, but unlike many sports watches found elsewhere on the market, it is still ultra-thin, elegant and a watch you can just as easily wear at a formal occasion as on court. This marriage of versatility and performance is what makes Gerald Charles and the GC Sport so unique.’

Technical information 

GC Sport

Reference

• GC2.0-TX-TN-01

Movement

• GCA 3002, manufactured exclusively for Gerald Charles by Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier

Caliber

• Automatic

Functions

• Hours, minutes and central seconds, date at 6 o’clock

Watch Head

• Case size of 39x41mm
• Case thickness. 8.35mm
• Asymmetric polygon with smooth edges (“Maestro” original design by Mr. Gerald Charles Genta)
• Grade 5 Titanium case body and bezel
• Grade 5 Titanium crown with embossed logo
• Sapphire crystals no glare
• Left-hand screw-down Grade 5 titanium crown with Clous de Paris finish and embossed logo,

Dial

• Royal blue sunburst, numerals, hour and minute hands and indexes filled with Super LumiNova®.

Movement

• Manufacture movement
• Developer: Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier S.A.
• Ultra-thin automatic ref. GCA3002  stop-second system, bi-directional rotating rotor with ceramic ball bearing,  circular-grained and Côtes de Genève decoration.
• Diameter: 23.30 mm
• Thickness: 3.70 mm
• Number of components: 189
• Number of jewels: 28
• Power reserve: 50 hours from twin barrels
• Winding rotor: bi-directional rotating rotor with ceramic ball bearing
• Balance: Gyromax®
• Frequency: 28,800 semi-oscillations/hour (4 Hz)
• Anti-shock system, Incabloc®

Finishing

• Circular-grained plate on dial side
• Cote de Gèneve decorated bridges
• Date bridge and motion-work bridge rhodium-plated and circular-grained, dial side
• Bevels, counterbores and apertures diamond-polished
• Ceramic ball bearing
• Pivots and flanges rolled
• Wheels circular-grained on two faces
• Flat-head screws, locked

Water resistance

• 100 metres / 10 ATM

Strap

• Royal blue vulcanised rubber, Clous de Paris finish to top side, Gerald Charles logo tapisserie to rear.
• Grade 5 titanium buckle with Gerald Charles logo.

Weight

• Watch head - 46.00 grams
• Total - 65.60 grams

Availability

• Production limited by capacity to 200 pieces per year

About Gerald Charles

Gerald Charles is an independent, family-owned watch company based in Switzerland. It was founded in 2000 by the great Mr. Gérald Charles Genta, the 20th century’s foremost watch designer.

Monsieur Genta, often referred to simply as ‘Maestro’, was a prolific artist and watch designer. After selling the company in 2003, he stayed on as its designer-in-chief until his death in 2011, leaving a treasure trove of watch designs in the company’s care. Every watch created by Gerald Charles is based on one of his original designs and carries his legacy of ‘artistic creativity, technical mastery’ forward into the future.

Gerald Charles watches are at the cutting edge of ergonomics and designed and manufactured to sit comfortably and elegantly on the wrist. Gerald Charles watches are produced without compromise and marry the finest traditions and most up-to-date technologies of Swiss mechanical watchmaking to deliver superior precision and performance, as well as exceptional water and shock resistant. Every piece is an elegant sport watch, the signature of the company's founder and eternal inspiration, Monsieur Genta.

MR. G.C. GENTA

Monsieur Gerald Charles Genta (1931-2011), born in Geneva, is deemed the most acclaimed watch designer in the world. In the early 2000s Monsieur Gerald Charles Genta – at the height of his success and willing to continue his creative production – founded the most modern of his brands: Gerald Charles.

He designed some of the most modern of his watches for the Maison Gerald Charles: amongst them the Maestro is one of his highest achievements. Its asymmetric watch case, one of its kind, has never been seen before and represents an exclusive innovation.

Timeline

2000 
Foundation of the Maison
Mr. Gérald Charles Genta founded Gerald Charles, giving the Maison his first two names. 

2001
Gerald Charles Renaissance
Renaissance is the first Gerald Charles collection, whose name perfectly describes Mr. Genta’s artistic revival. The collection is a bolder expression of the soft line which Mr. Genta was always particularly fond of. 

2003
Mr. Genta as Designer in Chief
Mr. Gérald Charles Genta sold the company to a group of investors, led by the Ziviani family, and remained Designer in Chief until 2011, with Mr. Giampaolo Ziviani as General Manager. Nowadays, Mr. Genta’s legacy lives on through his many watch designs and the Maison Gerald Charles. Every watch created by Maison Gerald Charles today is based on one of his original designs. 

2005
Gerald Charles Maestro
Mr. Gérald Charles Genta introduced the Maestro case, an iconic case made to last for future generations, whose shape lies between a square and an octagon. He took inspiration from the 17th century baroque architecture, realised by the Swiss-born Italian architect Francesco Borromini. The ‘smile’ at 6 o’clock is a subtle reflection of the concavity on the monuments’ façades. 

2011
Production of bespoke timepieces
Between 2011 and 2018, the Maison produced bespoke timepieces for a niche of collectors. Some of Mr. Genta's early creations had the designer's signature engraved on the case back, as an artwork of an artist. 

2019
Federico Ziviani as CEO
A new management took part in the Maison with a Board of Director and Federico Ziviani as CEO. The common mission has been opening up the story of Gerald Charles to a wider audience of collectors, increasing the production from a few dedicated pieces to 1.500 pieces a year. 

2021
The Maestro Anniversary and the Maestro premier 2021
In 2020, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the company, Gerald Charles released the Maestro Anniversary: a limited edition of 252 pieces marking the number of months since the company was founded. A year later, the Maestro 2.0 Ultra-Thin and Maestro 3.0 Chronograph Premier 2021 were launched. 

2024
Retail’s expansion
In 2022, the company was immediately appreciated among watch collectors worldwide. The brand supported by the best retailers in Europe, in particular Italy and the Middle East. In 2023, Gerald Charles continued its distribution in North Europe and the USA. In 2024. Gerald Charles officially began distribution on the Japanese market and inaugurated a new hub in Geneva, the Atelier.