Gerald Genta — the octagon that changed watches

Gerald Genta sketched the Royal Oak in a single night in 1971, hours before an Audemars Piguet board meeting. The brief was simple: design a steel watch that could sell at the price of a gold one. The octagonal bezel, the eight visible hex screws, the integrated bracelet — the entire silhouette — came out of one all-nighter and a few napkins.

Five years later he did it again for Patek Philippe with the Nautilus. The porthole case, the two ear-shaped hinges, the horizontally embossed dial — same designer, same boldness, same impact.

Both watches share a trait that matters to us: integrated bracelets. The case flows seamlessly into the bracelet, meaning a scratch on the lug is a scratch on the bracelet — and there's nowhere to hide it. Genta's design gave the world icons. It also gave the world the hardest cases to template a film for.

We've spent years getting the Royal Oak's eight screw cutouts within 0.05mm. The Nautilus ears took longer. Worth every hour. Genta deserved nothing less.