Gérald Genta

Yeah, I mean, you can see the three lines.

Yeah, I mean, the Octaroma, which is a pure Genta design that was originally launched by the Gerald Genta brand.

I never would have expected to see Genta and Vianney Halter in one watch.

And it's cool that they did it.

Because that's what every man thinks about all the time.

It's the design influence of Gerald Genta going into there.

[laughs]

Yoink.

He's like a big, friendly giant, and you think, you know, he created this and, you know, until you hold one of those watches with all those pieces in, with, uh- the back of the watch that's completely I mean they talk about open case back but this is the whole of the back of the watch is completely sapphire and the the components the it is a it is a piece of art it really is so to get that cut back you know close to things um I mean HYT is another brand that I'd highly recommend people look at because it is like a machine on your wrist with the pumps with the fluids I think it takes two years if they want to change the the color of the fluid in the watch let alone the the technology behind the watch I think until you go you won't appreciate what you can see and what you can do and what you can get hands-on with and Ricky you mentioned earlier at the beginning of the show about how different materials feel on your wrist and you can people people may shy away from buying a white gold watch thinking oh it's like stainless steel why would I pay triple quadruple for a watch that looks stainless steel but until you feel gold or feel platinum on your wrist it's a whole other experience to wearing a stainless steel watch and you can go the other way and with titanium titanium it almost weighs nothing and but it looks like stainless steel so you've got these different types of material and you know you go to then you can go to carbon and yeah everything feels different there's a different temperature stainless steel will feel cold titanium won't it's just such an amazing experience to get different things from different brands on your wrist a lot of things that you know 90 of the population will never be able to afford and but it's just getting hands-on with those things for instance I went to Jacob and Co upstairs to their to their first floor of their boutique on one of the main streets in Geneva unfortunately it was in French I I understood Tourbillon but apart from that my French is is pretty poor but holding things like that you know I know people people might suggest that Jacob and Co is more on the sort of jewelry side of things but just the incredible settings the sapphires the diamonds the way they're invisibly set just the craftsmanship behind everything is just incredible

you're selling it better than I could myself and you're reminding me of all the parts that we enjoy but we kind of take for granted because we've been there before many many times and we enjoy it every single year it is different because there are new brands that come along there are old favorites but there are new releases and it's not just independence I did highlight that earlier but you can go and see Tag Heuer you can go and see Bulgari lots of LVMH brand Gerald Genta Daniel Roth and then you can go to the boutiques of the brands that are already situated in Geneva that don't just turn up for that week you've got the Breitling kitchen you've got a Tudor boutique you've got an FP Journe boutique a Vacheron boutique a Montblanc boutique they're beside each other you can walk from one to the other to the other to the other you can just walk in Richard Mille got a boutique just beside Jacob and Co round the corner Ulysse Nard this is all clumped together literally in one block it is insane and you can walk in Bucherer have got one of the the flagship stores multiple different levels so you can go in there and see more normalized watches although they do have some cool other things in there such as Moser and Hautlence there is just so much to do so much to see it is not as expensive as perhaps you may think ice cream's 15 bucks a tub small tub don't like that but everything else is pretty economical and every year we get the same place we book the same hotel or it's kind of a studio apartment two streets away from Beau Rivage Beau Rivage two grand to five grand a night this place but 200 euros nowadays if you book early you get a bit cheaper but then you just wake up in the morning you go to your first appointment you finish that you're in the same building you go to your next appointment I just think for anybody that is a true enthusiast and has gone to other things we talk about football that's the comparison I like to draw if you follow your team around Europe if you follow your team around the UK you probably spend more than 150 quid on a return ticket on the train on a plane driving in the car petrol prices these days ain't cheap and then you've got your hotels then you've got your food you've got your this that and the other then your entry price the ticket price to get into the event you don't even have the entry price to get into Geneva watch days you just turn up and have fun so I think this has been a good intro for people not just hearing it from myself who've done it a million times but somebody who went and actually tried it themselves put their money where their mouth is didn't have to spend too much money but actually got to see some cool things and we will be catching up with you and going on a merry wander a bit of a tour and it's just great having you on here explaining what it's like we do get a little bit of preferential treatment it's to be expected because brands think if they show us some things we might talk about it in the show they may get some customers but the fact you've had exactly the same experience and you are a member of the public a true enthusiast a collector and a watch buyer it shows that it is the same it's not just we get the curated yellow brick road version you get to see behind the curtain as much as we do so Ben thank you so much for coming on and we'll see you in a few weeks

Thank you for having me.

So there we go.

As one of the big three, the opinion of Vacheron Constantin is held with kid gloves, a reverence befitting a business that's been as significant a contributor to the industry as Vacheron Constantin has.

Except, what is that contribution really? Lugs that look like cow horns? Not employing Gerald Genta to make an integrated watch? Where the likes of Patek Philippe can be associated with game-changing introductions like the keyless works, Vacheron Constantin's biggest contribution seems to be still being here.

I, for one, am very glad of that, but shouldn't Breguet take its place in the holy trinity instead? Aside from the fact that autocorrect always formats it into the first in an alphabetized list, A.

Lange & Söhne's biggest pet peeve-creating element isn't anything to do with its actual watches.