Time to Strike – Gerald  Genta Success Stroke 1995, Steel case, MOP Dial Cal. 899 Automatic (JLC based). Limited example known.

Gerald Genta. A name that nowadays is in the mouths of many and that not so long ago was alone walking a path of experimentation. Undoubtedly he manages more than others to contribute to the overall development of the watchmaker field (design speaking) and for that we still are grateful for. But without indulging  in compliments let’s analyze some -one in particular- of his creation. We choose the following model since it distinguishes itself from others vastly known and appreciated creations like the Royal Oak of the Nautilus.

I started my search since I was interested in looking for particular models of Genta that struck my attention. Well, I have always been interested in strange and particular complications, or very unusual designs.

The model I will talk about is the “Success Golf” with Stroke Counter. A simple hour-minute watch,  housed in a stepped octagonal case, a classic choice for Genta. A form often used by the legendary designer. The complication it mounts is quite a peculiar one: a counter for golf  strokes, designed to be used by golf players in counting points from one hole to another. Additionally the model is set with a mother of pearl dial and  4 singular windows/cyclopes for each counter strokes’ aperture. Finally the use of crowned pushers emphasizes the design angularity of the case. The model looks quite unusual and rare: to my knowledge there are indeed not so many examples around on sale  to retrieve data. Searching for this model I found instead another watch that rendered the same typology -complication- of watch but from a brand that historically collaborated with Gerald Genta: that is Cartier. In fact I found more data on Cartier models than the one branded as Gerald Genta in the years 1990-1995.

I then looked for this Cartier Pasha Golf 39 mm ref. 30010. It seems they were mounting a caliber 39T or in some case a 889/1 (an evolution of 889). Searching for movement’s information was not easy. The fact that the Pasha mounted this kind of complication is not at all strange, remembering the Pasha of 1985 has been attributed indeed to a design of Genta. More about this in a recent essay I wrote about.

Searching online, I could find mentions of the Pasha Golf mounting the caliber 39: a caliber that can be traced back -possibly- to the Eterna Caliber 39 (a movement of 2013). The fact the Eterna cal. 39 is mentioned sounds a bit off, being a caliber used much later in time. I imagine the mentioned caliber 39 refers to something else, possibly a Cartier caliber with its own -obscure to me- reference. Alternatively, other articles mentioned a Pasha Golf using a caliber 889 instead, almost with certainty referring to the JLC movement cal 889/1: a very consistent series of movements extensively used by JLC for its proofed design. At the current state these are all speculations, based only on the partial data available. A fact today more aggravated since searching such information has been  more  difficult than ever after the website RANFFT – and its database- has discontinued its service by its defunct owner and only contributor.  Here follows a small search of some results I found over the years in different sales online.

Anyway both the 889 and the 39 (if it is an Eterna mov.) were conceived as modular movement, designed to be as expandable as possible, ranging from a manual two-hands to a column wheel-equipped flyback chronograph. The 39 is likely an evolution of the predecessors aiming to “industrialize” the process to integrate compilations departing from a common, full proofed, base. Yet the 889 and the 39 are designed differently, and definitely they do not look alike.

It is interesting to notice a few things:

–  The original JLC 889 is a basic hour-sec-min-date considered difficult to improve since its consistency. The Master Control 2005 is based on the 889. “The problem JLC had, was trying to improve on the old model (MCGT with 889/2) which was an absolute classic and very difficult to improve on”

– Genta was known for his interest in bringing back uncommon complications to the general public, which revived the interest in mechanical watches deeply affected by the tsunami of quartz movements. One of the first problems he would  have encountered would have been to find a consistent caliber, as a base to work on, and add complications at his will.

– The Gerald Genta Success Golf with Stroke counter 1995 mounted a JLC 889. This model – as simple as it is – required a complication, a particular one, to build on top of a basic caliber. Could it have been a test design, departing from the JLC caliber that he himself modified – or required JLC to modify – for his purpose. The  Success Golf, or more in general the Success line, already had elements of his matured design style, such as stepped case, octagonal form, the use of particular materials like  carbon fiber (the first time used in  a watch), mother of pearl, skeletonized bridges etc.

–  Genta in those years -around 2000- worked also with more complex complications such as the Retrograde. A nowadays beloved complication, that characterized in particular a series of watches that became very popular in recent years: the Mickey Mouse series. Again, Genta not only picked the design language of the watch to be presented, but he made sure to strengthen a relation never created before: connect the world of high-end watches to Disney. Elements found in these watches were mother of pearl dial, retrograde display, coin case, adorned pushers or crowns, facet glass, use of steel, gold or platinum. To use and adapt a very sturdy design such as the 889a movement for such a watch, it is likely he would have incrementally faced issues. Then the question became: did he opt to collaborate with a different movement producer to give more space to possibilities? 

– Other examples of retrograde are the known Gérald Genta Arena Sport Bi-Retro model. It is likely that this movement, or the plan for this watch, motivated a change in mind. A necessity  for a retrograde demand that needed an answer.

– Because of the Success Golf Stroke, it is almost certain Genta collaborated with JLC to modify the basic 889 to fit its purpose of adding a complication, or a series of complications. It is also possible he had been instrumental in the development of the caliber 39, an Eterna movement ( later referred to as ETA movement). Such consideration could straightforwardly connect Genta to actual Cartier models we find in the market ( Cartier, again an old partner of Genta). It is to be noticed also that Cartier around those years was on the path to reduce production costs, using easy to manufacture movements able to embrace different complications. Often indeed, the fact Cartier used ETA movements has been seen as pejorative of the piece: but again the purpose was likely to expand the offering,  containing the costs to fight the quartz technology that proposed endless complication at a fraction of the costs of mechanical.

Some source directly connect some of the previous conclusions: from  “https://www.europeanwatch.com/blog/cartier-pasha-perpetual-calendar-moonphase-review/” we read: “Inside the Pasha de Cartier is a Cartier finished ETA caliber 039 with a module developed by Gerald “. Further, in the premier  presentation of the caliber 39:  “ The “modular” Calire 39 is a movement with 88 different configurations, all integrated. There are two basic possibilities to start with: self-winding, with central hours and minutes and small seconds, or manual winding. From there, you can include a power reserve, GMT, moon phase etc. right up to an integrated column-wheel chronograph, with date, small seconds, hour, minute, instantaneous co-axial chronograph, flyback, 68 hours power reserve! “ 

from ttps://www.europastar.com/magazine/features/1004087126-grandes-maisons-the-beginnings-of-the-new-eterna.html

Don’t you see, 88 different configurations, like the 889, the name choice is purely coincidence?!?

What can we conclude from all these considerations?

Genta did actively involve himself in the design and modification of basic calibers that fit his aims. Some are better known, some are totally obscure. 

Genta propelled the field in design watchmaking, likely trying to industrialize the process of producing complication, keeping in mind that some pieces are unique (grand Sonnerie) some pieces have to be made available to the general public (Mickey Mouse retrograde).

I love to compare Genta to Gian Battista Alberti, the renaissance architect. Before him the architect was an obscure figure, important buildings were made but often was known more the commissioner than the designer. Aside from a few exceptions (Michelangelo, Leonardo DaVinci, Palladio ect…) that resonate to the public till today, most of the XV century architects were unknown. Alberti changed the role of the architect to a public figure, a designer. Genta did the same in design watchmaking. Also nowadays it is difficult to find designers’ names of a particular watch, unless it is an iconic legend. It is just about the brand. Genta has been instrumental to acknowledge a figure of designer, sometime watchmaker, sometime designer. About GEnta, the design choices, or the movement choices can be disputable but the contribution should be shifted from being the designer of royal oak to being the first ”real” watch designer. In my limited knowledge I ignore, or I just started to know, figures like Daniel Roth, F. Muller, and their teachers, yet each of them contributed to some extent to expand our knowledge, not only of the techniques, but also of their existence.

The Deconstruction of the form 

Going back to the main topic of this essay, the deconstruction of the form, as mentioned before, is not a unique thing in the design. Industrial design, architecture, fashion often use such techniques to create new forms, experiences, standards of beauty. The process of design deconstruction in watch making is little known or understood. Most watches use this principle for their design are little visible or  often known  only by the wearer. If you don’t try, you don’t know. In the Success Stroke the deconstruction of the case is perceivable by a feeling of filled absence. The size of the case is small, barely 35, yet the crow that surrounds the hexagonal case enlarges the feeling. You find yourself puzzled if the case is small or  large. One side is slender and empty, leaving space for your wrist to breathe. On the other the case embraces the wrist and contours it. Measuring the case with the crown, the size of the watch is massive, 47mm. But it does not feel like it. The real mass verges in the center to enclose an hexagonal shape of barely 37mm. Crowns add volume but frees mass on  the wrist. The case size disappears to give space to ostentatious adorned crowns that resemble small king crowns themselves. The case accounts for 6 crowns at the side of the hexagonal case, filling the space. Four crowns are for the strike counters, one for zeroing  the counter all at once, another to set time. The hexagonal case calls for a fundamental symmetry. The bracelet  proudly stands for the fight. It does not give it up to the case as the main stage. It is not a lonely spectator, left to embrace a sole function to keep it tight to the wrist. It shows its will to stand out. It articulates its form, that by necessity has to be more similar to a line, a lace to something else. It articulates a relationship with the case it intertwined with the case. It calls for a textile finishing, like a thread passing up and down a stable matrix that needs its support. Not trivial at all it complements the whole leaving the spectator, the wearer, an intrigued face.

The deconstruction of the form of the case in this instance comes with a visual trick. Indeed the actual size of the watch,  at the wrist, is misleading compared to the actual size,  measured. The use of a simple static element multiplied, the crown surrounding an hexagonal case, prevents the viewer from having a static perception of the size. Indeed, given the contrast between the outer circumference of the case -with crowns- compared to the inner circumference of the case -the only hexagonal case- the viewer can experience simultaneously two competing sizes at  once. Such intertwined play is not uncommon in  design overall, but generally its use has found application only within architecture, where architects do play with the scale of knowledgeable elements to distort the impression of the observer.  Here the trick, once again, uses static elements to confer dynamism to the experience. Moreover the overall experience is enriched by using adorned crowns that tend to distract the observer moving his/hers eyes toward the periphery of the case. Such play would be flatten by a generic dial. It is here instead that Genta decided to give also the dial a tridimensional dynamism playing with two simple elements. He decided to center a main “theme” on the watch dial.  Since the watch is purposely dedicated to golf players, he intentionally decides to recall such aspects as the main character of the scene. A golf ball then is placed at the center of the dial. But he does not simply place a flat image of the golf ball, he purposely attributes deepness to the experience introducing two additional elements.First the material he chooses is a mother of pearl substrate, that in its own give the figure an intrinsic play with the light. As a natural feature of the mother of pearl, light in certain angles changes color reflection and deepness of the figure. Second he curved the mother of pearl substrate with holes recalling the same one present in a golf ball. The resulting effect properly renders a ball that in certain conditions seems to rotate toward the observer like it would happen if someone threw at you a golf ball. Its dial work does not end here. The choice to surround the ball with a peripheral green background not only give the golf ball a more realistic environment -we are talking about gold ball in green fields for golf- but also ad a peripheral element of unity, a dark green strip that emphasizes the circular symmetry and centripetal extension of the center. The green ring therefore first encounters a stepped hexagonal case of two tangible different steps: the internal start to transition the circular shape of the ball toward an hexagon, the second, the more external one, has markers at the corner of the hexagon. Finally the last step surrenders to its extension propelling only stems, the crowns that render an overall decay of the central shape. I mean, to catch such things you have to hold it in your hands. No picture can give such deepness of the experience. It sounds like it is the confined luxury given to the owner. A lonely pleasure that only the wearer can enjoy. 

Characteristic is the use of a green luminova for the hands. Hands are rounded at their extremity and highly polished, ending their this in  the exact periphery of the golf ball, for the hour hand, and the outer minute track the hexagon , for the minute hand. Noticeable is the choice to not leave any detail of the hand unfinished; here the tip at the center is covered and highly polished as well,  a detail often left aside by many brands, even in high horology. 

Within the green ring surrounding the golf ball, like any respectable golf green field, at the four corners of the hexagon sit the 4 holes, each accounting for one player, each with an individual counter, each with a different color numeration:Red, black, green and blue. The numeration is indexed on top of a white counter ring. To complement the composition, four cyclops sitting on top of the four number windows, internal to the glass enlarge the rendering of the number. The cyclops are lens placed inside the glass of the case, therefore from outside the glass is fairly flat, on the inside four circular bumps, the cyclops, distort and expand the number beneath them.  

I need at this point to mention aspects. The polishing of the case is superb. I mean that the resulting surface and color of the steel does not  render a simple steel. It seems white gold. My guess is it has been used with a particular alloy of steel, that gives the metal a particular finish of color richness and coldness. I am  more used to seeing this  visual impression on white gold bracelet. Such aspects together with the  intertwined bracelet give a very rich sense that nicely complement with the dial richness and the case unintentional complexity and dynamism.   

…more to come to complete this issue. Stay tuned.