At Geneva Watch Days 2025, the legendary Gérald Genta name returns to centre stage with the unveiling of the Minute Repeater, a refined collector’s piece that embodies balance, elegance, and the uncompromising artistry of one of watchmaking’s greatest visionaries. Subtle yet powerful, the new creation fuses poetic design with technical mastery, honouring both the complication closest to Genta’s heart and his enduring legacy of audacious elegance.
Honouring a Watchmaking Visionary
Minute repeaters were central to Gérald Genta’s creative spirit. In the 1980s, he was among the rare watchmakers daring to innovate with this most complex of complications, creating water-resistant versions, automatic variants, and even pairing the minute repeater with perpetual calendars.
For Genta, sound was everything—he tirelessly refined cases to amplify clarity and resonance, believing a chiming watch should be both technically perfect and emotionally stirring.
La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton now channels that spirit with a new cushion-shaped case designed to capture the richness of sound while reviving Genta’s iconic design language for today. “I wanted to capture the intuitive, instinctive genius and artistry of Mr Genta,” explained Matthieu Hegi, Artistic Director at La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton.
The GG-002 Calibre: Sonic and Mechanical Brilliance
At the heart of the watch lies the manual-winding GG-002 calibre, developed entirely in-house. Each movement requires more than four weeks to assemble and is finished to the highest standards of haute horlogerie, from hand-bevelled angles to Côtes de Genève and snailing decoration. The movement delivers an 80-hour power reserve, while an octagonal-shaped inertia wheel discreetly pays homage to Genta’s favourite form.
True to Genta’s ethos, the chiming mechanism is crafted for acoustic perfection. Black-polished hammers and gongs are manually tuned by ear, with each component meticulously cut to optimise vibration and amplitude. The result is a crystalline, resonant chime of remarkable volume and clarity—an achievement rarely matched in wristwatches.
A Case That Plays Like an Instrument
The 40mm cushion-shaped case embodies refinement and function. Just 9.6mm thick, with case walls slimmed down to 0.6mm at their thinnest, it is designed to maximise sound propagation while preserving elegance on the wrist. A sapphire crystal reduced to 0.8mm further enhances resonance. Alternating brushed and polished finishes highlight the watch’s subtle architecture, while polished double gadroons and a tactile, streamlined trigger pay tribute to Genta’s historical codes.
The onyx dial deepens the drama, chosen for its lustre and historical connection to Genta’s love for hardstone dials. Paired with 3N yellow gold—a material that enriches both acoustic performance and visual warmth—it evokes what Hegi calls “sunshine and the Mediterranean spirit, which was very Genta.” A reimagined minute track plays with circular and cushion-shaped elements, subtly transforming the dial’s geometry and reinforcing the watch’s distinctive character.
A Quietly Powerful Legacy
The Gérald Genta Minute Repeater is ambitious yet discreet, architectural yet soft—an ultra-thin marvel that distils sonic mastery and sculptural elegance into a singular piece. It retails at SGD 552,000 with tax.
