he new Maestro 9.0 Tourbillon, Ref. GC9.0-A-01, is one of the most technically and aesthetically advanced pieces ever conceived by the family-owned Maison Gerald Charles. The timepiece returns to the story of an original Maestro flying tourbillon created in 2005 by Gerald Charles’ founder, Gérald Charles Genta.

The new model was designed in collaboration with the Maison’s creative director Octavio Garcia, and is powered by the GCA 3024/12 automatic flying tourbillon calibre, a customised manufacture movement produced by Gerald Charles’ long-time partner Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier.

The Maestro 9.0 Tourbillon is equipped with the GCA 3024/12 automatic flying tourbillon calibre, featuring bespoke bridge designs decorated with a special vertical Côtes de Genève pattern developed by designer Octavio Garcia. It has a 50-hour power reserve, an uncommonly high figure in a 60-seconds flying tourbillon, made possible by the movement’s twin-barrel system.

The watch’s form follows that of the now familiar Maestro, immediately recognisable by its playful asymmetrical case with its rippled bezel and “smile” at 6 o’clock. This time, the case is cast in 42mm of medical-grade stainless steel and has a royal blue sunburst dial, a signature Gerald Charles colour.

At the watch’s heart is its 60-seconds flying tourbillon with a unique cage in the shape of the Maison’s GC logo. This posed a technical challenge: how to deliver a tourbillon cage in the shape of the swooping GC logo without placing too much pressure on the watch’s power reserve? The solution was to machine the cage from lightweight Grade 5 titanium – which presented a fresh technical challenge of its own, as titanium is notoriously difficult to manipulate when the tolerances are so fine.

Working with Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier, Octavio Garcia and Gerald Charles’ engineers achieved their goal by skeletonising the flying tourbillon cage and repositioning the screws that hold its striking 18-karat yellow gold bridge to the back side. The result is a highly sophisticated 60-seconds flying tourbillon that oscillates at 4 Hz, made all the more vivid by the natural, three-dimensional contrasts created by combining a surgical-grade stainless steel case, a gold tourbillon bridge and a titanium flying tourbillon cage.

Production will be limited to 50 pieces in steel with a steel bezel. There will also be 10 pieces a year in 18-karat white gold with a diamond-set bezel, and a further 10 white-gold pieces with bezels set with sapphires, decorated by the master gem setters of Salanitro Geneva.

Price: CHF 85,400

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