t is a great honour for me and my family to guide Gerald Charles into its 25th anniversary year,” said Federico Ziviani, Gerald Charles chief executive. “Since the Maison’s revival in 2019, it has been our privilege to introduce it to a new generation of collectors.”

The Maestro GC39 25th Anniversary Edition is based on the Maestro GC39, an exquisite, rare example of what has become Gerald Charles’s signature design. Inspired by the classic “montre à guichet”, or “window watch” style, the original 2005 model had a sliding-hour complication developed by legendary master watchmaker and friend of Gerald Charles, Antoine Preziuso. It indicated the hour via a rotating disc revealed through an aperture in the dial.

As with all Maestro watches, the original GC39’s esoteric case shape was inspired by forms Mr. Genta observed in a magnificent Baroque monument in Rome that was designed by the seventeenth-century master architect Francesco Borromini. Fitting the GC39’s movement inside this case was extremely demanding, but Mr. Genta insisted on utmost quality.

Limited to 100 pieces, the Maestro GC39 25th Anniversary Edition is defined by its familiar stepped, fluid case shape, its radiant dial and the playful manner in which it displays the time. At 12 o’clock, the dial opens to reveal a 12-hour disc and a “jumping hours” complication, whereby the disc jumps forward in one-hour increments every 60 minutes.

Those same characteristics come to the fore again in the new Maestro GC39 25th Anniversary Edition with high-concept decorations and elegant finishing The new Gerald Charles Swiss Manufacture 4.0 Calibre Jumping Hours has been developed and patented in-house by Gerald Charles. It has a jumping hours function and a 50-hour power reserve and required an additional 80 components over a standard time-only movement.

At the same time, the family-owned Maison has opened the Gerald Charles archives to the public for the first time as part of the In the City activities taking place during Watches and Wonders Geneva.

Price: CHF 36,000 (excl. taxes)

www.geraldcharles.com