Ladies and gentlemen, how are you? We're here at Watches and Wonders 2026. Well, actually, we're outside of Watches and Wonders 2026 to see some of the best stuff in Geneva with the incredible, one and only, inimitable Mr. Georges Kern. How are you, sir?
Very well. I thank you for the invitation.
So, you know, when we're looking at the sort of launches that have happened over the course of the year so far, one incredible jolt of energy has been the unveiling of your full vision for Universal Genève. And I think that you must be pretty touched by the incredible positivity that we've seen, an outpouring of joy from the collector community, the consumer community. How does it make you feel?
Well, I'm extremely relieved that finally everything is done. I'm also relieved for the team because they worked day and night, and they're very proud. We had a phenomenal event just on Monday. We had all the retailers, journalists, bloggers, et cetera, and the response, as you said, is phenomenal. Everybody loves it. People understand that we really add value in that market, that we are not a classic, typical watchmaking brand. Of course, we have the micro-rotors, but the concept is different, and it's not bling-bling. It's a very tasteful brand with classic designs like this one, the one you wear here, from Genta, the Paul Newman, which is absolutely phenomenal, stunning. And the concept of the brand is very appealing. People understand what we're doing.
It's a brand which will be 50/50 male and female. We have a clear pyramid with couture capsule and prêt-à-porter, which will allow us to be innovative. And we talk about not form follows function, which I was listening to for 30 years, but functional beauty. Right. Functional beauty because we're the only brand in the market with both a micro-rotor with a three-quarter rotor on the chronograph and on the automatic. So we have a fantastic typical Universal Genève movement, but we have the beauty of the Couture de la Montre, and this is what we call functional beauty.
Talk to me about the Polar which we're wearing on the wrist. You took your time. I remember us going to Copenhagen. I think we were sitting next to each other on the plane from Geneva to Copenhagen together. But now I see it in the flesh and it's so well resolved. Every dimension of it is so on point, right? We can start with the movement, which I love. You pay a conscious tribute to the micro-rotor, but at the same time you're not trapped by the concept of repeating the past. You've done a three-quarter rotor, which is much more efficient in terms of winding, right? But still in a beautiful movement. Then you look at the integration of the bracelet where you've got those wonderful elegant taper down here as well, and it flows into the twisted lugs, the rehaut, the signature dial as well. It is its own category. It's not just an integrated bracelet watch because there's so many of those. It's just its own thing, and I love that.
It was really a very difficult exercise because it's number one, it's a Genta design. Number two, we had to imagine what he would have done over the last 50 years, because every five to six years he would have adjusted, adapted the design. So we had to jump 50 years. And by the way, as you know, I have also an advisory board of 25 collectors, which are also Rolex and Patek collectors, and I told them at the beginning, 'Listen guys, don't tell me what I should do. Just tell me what I should not do and the mistakes we should avoid and help me doing this right.' And then we defined first of all the collection with the compact, the pool water, the disco, disco volante, et cetera, the Dior Amik. And then we discussed a lot about that. It's very difficult. People don't realize how difficult it is to make a three-hand watch because you have minutes, seconds, and hours and that's it. But here we kept the classic elements of Gerald Genta's design with the crosshair, with the twisted lugs as you said, and the bracelet is phenomenal. It's incredibly comfortable. It's incredibly elegant. And the one I wear here, which you had on your wrist, is tiger eye. So we have lapis lazuli, we have bull's eye. And the beauty is that we have four different stones. So every watch in this segment will be individual. I don't wear a gold watch. I've never in 30 years, but I think it's the first gold watch I'm going to wear. It's so classy.
It's so elegant, and I just love the idea that you've taken the sort of division on the dial and allowed you to sort of twist the direction of the stones as well. So you have this just wonderful visual richness where your eye traces this pattern over and over again. It's super cool, man.
And it's great in the sales process because we always take customers outside because in the light you see the reflections. But again, we do really unusual things.
Here you have the disco's great. So the disco with no lugs, it's absolutely fantastic.
Here in gold it's so elegant and different. At every stage of the development of the brand, we thought, 'How can we be different?' In terms of products, in terms of communication, concept, boutiques, et cetera. You will be blown away by the boutiques.
This is also super cool. This is the Duomètre.
And what is incredibly cool, so you have a small dial, okay? But when you turn it, you have this movement with the minute counter. And it's very unusual. So you look at this, boom, and you turn.
But it's exactly what people would feel. Normally it's the opposite, right? It's exactly the opposite.
How cool is that? It's so chic, man. Like I love it. And it's cool also because it's not just a repetition of a vintage style. It's its own thing, right? It really has this—you know, you were talking about how there are these very classic brands, and then for a long time the primary creativity that was coming was from hypermodernism. But this is somewhere in between, right? It's kind of tracing this dynamic tension between the modern world and the vintage world as well. So there are vintage cues that I love about it, but it feels fresh. It feels dynamic.
This looks amazing on your wrist.
I remember our friend Aurel Bacs posted this on the first day.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
And then we have what is very fashionable at this moment in time. I mean, I'm sure you've noticed it, but these what we call montre de forme, your rectangular watch, shaped watches, are back in trend in an incredible way. And we have here the watch called Cabriolet from 1933 with a fantastic system where you turn the watch and you have obviously the face with a beautiful dial. And what is fantastic, this is obviously an Art Deco watch and we work with the Tamara de Lempicka estate.
One of my favorite painters.
And we have three times five limited editions with some of her paintings, the most famous ones, made here in Geneva by a fantastic painter. And this is absolutely beautiful. Look at this.
Yeah, that's really stylish. It really looks fantastic.
So, and then we have of course Zenina. You know, Zenina rented the Compax. So the three Compax will come later, you know, the Captain edition. And this is the Nina watch with the famous bone strap, and where we did the first re-edition a couple of months back, as you know. And now we are here in the series. And I think the leather strap also makes it very different.
