The ways that the watch industry’s top players find their routes into the world of horology can be diverse and fascinating. From tech and engineering to automotive design, fashion and cosmetics, all manner of roads can lead to the mountains of Swiss watchmaking’s heartland, and each brings with them a little something to add to the industry’s unique flavour.
In some particular cases, the path is laid from the cradle. Some follow that route perfunctory manner, out of duty to the family or a sense of opportunity. But for those who really choose to embrace it wholeheartedly — as is the case for 30-year-old Federico Ziviani — the stars can align, and magic can happen.
One of Ziviani’s earliest memories is having to sit quietly and, rather dully, behave at a table with watchmaking’s ultimate legend Gerald Genta. And while a young Federico may not have been particularly enamoured with the situation, he was unknowingly absorbing the horological stardust that would, eventually, bring him answer to his dynastic calling — Gerald Charles.
“This brand is a family legacy, a history, which is becoming rarer and rarer in the luxury watch industry — there aren’t so many family-run companies where the family was involved since day one,” he tells GMT GCC, with more than a hint of personal pride. “My father became a good friend of Gerald Charles Genta in 1982 when he organised the Montres et Bijoux fair. My father was very young, younger than I am now, when Gerald approached and said, Franco, you did a great fair. I like you a lot, can you help me build the Gerald Genta brand communication in Italy? And my father, who got along very well with him, said of course, Gerald. So he started to build communications around the Gerald Genta brand in Italy, and they built a friendly relationship until the early 1990s, when my father was presented with the opportunity to found the Italian subsidiary of Audemars Piguet.”
Genta, with his special Royal Oak connection to Audemars Piguet, understood Franco Ziviani’s reasoning and the pair parted ways in business on good terms, while maintaining their close confidence. They socialised and even vacationed together, building a strong bond which would last throughout the years. “Gerald didn’t have many close friends, because he had a very special character,” shares Ziviani. “He was very straightforward, and he could be very difficult to manage if you weren’t diplomatic.”
In 2000, at the age of 69, Genta sold his first brand. But afterwards, he realised that something was missing from his life — and he turned to his friend Franco to help him fill that gap. “He couldn‘t be without designing watches. It wasn’t his job, it was his life. So he went to my father and said Franco, help me to build the Gerald Charles brand together.”
And this is where we find the five-year-old Federico, sitting at a table in Monte Carlo, listening to the buzz about a prospective new Gerald Charles Maison. Franco, with his commitments to Audemars Piguet, couldn’t take on Genta’s new project – but his brother Giampaolo, Federico’s uncle, could. Gerald was the head of creation, and as prolific as ever, designing around one watch a day for the subsequent 11 years, numbering into the thousands. And Giampaolo, as well as managing the business side of the venture, was also responsible for creating an atmosphere where Genta’s talents could be properly realised.
“My uncle was extremely good at managing and working with Genta,” says Ziviani. “Let‘s say that his main skill was managing to work with a genius. Think about it. Genta created designs for many brands, but he never worked for them, and then he created his own brand. So the main skill of my uncle, which I really respect very much and I don’t know if I would have been able to do, was to be able to work with the Picasso of watchmaking. An absolute genius. And this allowed us to go so far and not to give up after one year. He had a very important role in the longevity of the brand, nobody else ever managed to work with Genta like he did.”
The Gerald Charles brand was born with the intention to work for pleasure, in close partnership with horological artisans, to create incredible complications that would match the Maestro’s vision and technical ambition. “Collaboration with others, the idea of not being arrogant in an ivory tower, but including artisans and watchmakers to build something together was part of the brand’s DNA since day one,” says Ziviani. “They made so many bespoke pieces.”
When Genta died in 2011, the Ziviani family was left with Gerald Charles’s patrimony. Genta’s relatives sold the company to them in its entirety — they had lost a creative director, and more importantly a dear friend, yet they were left with a Maison and a legend to preserve. Gianpaolo continued to produce extremely high-end bespoke pieces, a few per year and just enough to keep the brand ticking over. Meanwhile, not-so-little-anymore Federico had grown up, studied finance and was working in software engineering in London. But in the summer of 2019 he had his own realisation — watchmaking’s siren song was calling him, and he took over Gerald Charles as CEO.
“I came back to Switzerland and said ‘Dad, I love watches. They are my passion.’ My dad never forced me into it, he’s always told me ‘do things your way, don‘t come into the family business’. But I told him I would love to make my
own special watch, the perfect watch for me. I’d learned from all the imperfections that I spotted in the different watches that I saw all around, and I wanted to make the perfect package: elegance with wearability. A very dressy watch that you can wear on a jet ski, on a paddle board, that you can wear across generations, across genders and across lifestyles,” explains Ziviani.
“Versatility is very important. The watch doesn‘t need to be a burden. I don’t want to say, ‘oh my God, I need to be careful with it’ or ‘oh my god, it’s not elegant enough.’ Luxury today is comfort, and this is how it started. My father trusted me and said ok, try. He didn’t give me a lot of money and said, find your own solutions. And, step by step, we grew to create the Maestro Anniversary edition in 2020.”
It was a hit. The ‘anniversary’ branding was a success, making it clear that this Maison that had laid low since 2011 wasn’t a new brand, but rather a resurgence. Franco Ziviani came on board as Chairman in 2023 to support the Maison’s growth, and over the five years since the Maestro Anniversary’s launch, brand recognition has become ever stronger — thanks in large part to the distinctive asymmetric case shape that’s the Gerald Charles signature. From the launch of the elegantly skeletonised Maestro 8.0 Squalette in 2022 and the triumph of the masterful Maestro 9.0 Tourbillon in 2023, to the addition of the sporty-chic integrated bracelet Masterlink in 2024, the new innovations have been steady and consistent.
“After the Anniversary watch sold out, we started to pick up growth, and we moved from the three people that we were back then to the team of 40 people that we have today. From zero retailers to 110 of the best doors in America, the Middle East, Asia and Europe. And from very few watches being produced to 1,500 watches produced and still growing. So it’s been a very intense six years since since I started at the brand.”
So where do we find the Maison today? In the run-up to Dubai Watch Week, at a very exciting turning point indeed. Now celebrating its 25th anniversary, Gerald Charles has found a loyal audience in the Middle East and — fittingly — has one of the fair’s most impressive stands. The Maison is also running one of DWW’s most exciting Masterclasses, a Métier d’Art session focussing on martelage and sertissage — technical skills that are the perfect representation of Gerald Charles’s pride in finely-honed craftsmanship. So why has this historic-yet-renewed brand resonated so strongly in the region? And how does Gerald Charles cater to that passion?
“Here in the Middle East there’s very good knowledge about watchmaking history,” explains Ziviani. “Everybody knows Genta and what that name stands for. Everybody’s passionate about watches, because there is a big love for beauty, accessories and mechanical things like cars and watches. The growth here was organic — people started to ask for this brand that they were seeing being successful in Europe, and they saw us as very authentic people. We didn’t come here to market ourselves or to make a business plan, but we were just doing what we like to do, for the passion of it.
“Being waterproof and having a very resilient watch is very important in the Middle East — and to give you an idea, I wear my watch in the sauna! So the way that we construct our watches is very solid, very tough. The gasket is very resistant to heat, you can swim with it, you can travel with it and it’s always comfortable. It’s great in the heat — our rubber strap is natural, so it breathes. The product was ideal for the region, and as well as being low profile it has that extra twist of distinctiveness.”
With more than 10 points of sale in the Middle East, it’s proving to be a match made in heaven — not to mention the double celebration the Maison has launched in time for Dubai Watch Week in partnership with Ahmed Seddiqi. The Maestro 2.0 Ultra-Thin ‘Tiger’s Eye’ Seddiqi 75th Anniversary Edition, with its dune-like natural stone colours, commemorates the legendary Dubai retailer’s three-quarter-century, as well as Gerald Charles’s milestone year too. But there’s something extra special about this timepiece that doesn’t immediately stand out — an innovation in the case material itself.
“We went one step beyond,” smiles Ziviani. “Our engineering team developed a colour mix which is a special treatment — not plating — that turns the metal into this brown, bronze colour that reflects the shades of the light. It’s not a static colour, not a coating, but a very lively treatment that matches very well with the tiger’s eye shades. It’s the first watch ever done with this treatment in the history of watchmaking, so we broke a lot of rules with this edition.”
It‘s this passion — heartfelt, real and almost childlike in its energy — that sets Gerald Charles in its own league. It’s a Maison that revels in its history and guards it like the precious gem it is, but is in no way trapped by it. And there’s no mistaking where this life force comes from — Ziviani himself, and his love for a brand that is so comfortable in its own skin that it seems to be just one more charismatic member of the family.
“I work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but not in the way I would if I was doing anything else,” he shares. “My work is merged with my passion, the pleasure and the fun, and you can see it in the product. In the end, these watches are part of the soul of their creators. I make every watch for myself, so for me it’s easy to see what will work and what won’t. Would I wear it? That’s the only question.”
Soul — so much of what Gerald Charles does can be captured by this word. From the legacy of its Maestro, to the vitality of the new custodian of this fascinating brand, it’s clear that everything here is led from the heart, a place of authenticity and cared for like cherished kinfolk. From the cradle to the grave, and back again, this is a Maison that understands not simply safeguarding its inheritance — rather breathing new life into it with sincerity, panache and a quiet boldness that feels utterly modern. The result? An alchemy of comfort and couture-level craft that resonates far beyond Switzerland’s valleys, finding a natural home in the Middle East. If the first 25 years established the legend, the chapter unfolding now suggests something even more compelling: a future where the past is not just honoured, but reimagined for a new generation of dreamers, collectors and lovers of true horology.
