I believe you all know the brand Bvlgari. Established in 1884, the Italian origin company is involved in jewellery, accessories, perfume and hotel management beside luxury watches.
The watch section that we are interested in includes several partnerships with the most important names of the horological world.
Daniel Roth. A grandson and a son to watchmakers. For the Roth family watch making is absolutely a tradition. The family elders decided to move to France after performing their profession is Switzerland.
Daniel Roth was born in France in 1946. Just like the elders in the family, Roth decided to go back to Switzerland to strengthen his practice side besides his theoretical knowledge. After working at several small brands Roth worked at Audemars Piguet for 7 years. His career moved on with Breguet. Managed to get a solid place at Breguet in his late 20s, Roth’s career moved up drastically.
Beside continuing his education as a part of his profession with Breguet, Roth designed many important mechanics including tourbillon, perpetual calender, power reserve indicator and more.
Roth decided to quit working for Breguet and started his own brand Daniel Roth at 1989.
Now let’s make a short break with Roth’s story and take a look at Gerald Genta within the same period.
Gerald Genta. Born in Switzerland in 1931, Genta is known to be a legendary name for the watch industry. Started his professional career in Universal Geneve, Genta designed for several brands as well.
Some major designs of Genta are Omega Constellation(1959), Patek Philippe Golden Ellipse(1968), Audemars Piguet Royal Oak(1970), IWC Ingenieur(1976), Patek Philippe Nautilus(1976) and Cartier Pasha de Cartier (1998). Established his own brand in 1969, Genta started to produce “high horology” time pieces with very important complications like tourbillon and minute repeater.
In the meantime, he also designed custom watches & movements for individuals as well. The Walt Disney themed watches he produced in 80s are still sought after items.
Those two different brands are acquired by Bvlgari in 1999(Gerald Genta) & 2000(Daniel Roth). Later on, the legendary names and their marvelous work started to live within the brand Bvlgari. In 2011, Bvlgari got acquired by LVMH(Louis Vuitton – Moet Hennessy) and those two names Gerald Genta & Daniel Roth joined the group.
Daniel Roth editions are being marketed under Bvlgari’s product group covering the most complicated and special models. While bearing great resemblance with the Daniel Roth’s unique form, the watches are designed with bolder and more modern lines thanks to Bvlgari’s touch.
Including models with important complications like tourbillon, minute repeater, jumping hours and more, Bvlgari moves forward in it’s path of prestige strongly with confidence by the name Daniel Roth. As a tribute to the great watch maker, the Daniel Roth collection models have the master’s name on the dial.
Gerald Genta’s heritage is also being expressed within the Bvlgari collection. Typical Genta designs like the Octo with retrograde lay out are always highly praised with the watch enthusiasts. Like the Daniel Roth collection, Gerald Genta name is placed on the dials of the specially crafted watches as a tribute to the legend.
Currently, Daniel Roth continues it’s personal profession through the brand Jean Daniel Nicholas. Gerald Genta continued to produce his own creations under the name Gerald Genta until he passed away in 2011. The blend of those two legendary watch makers’ heritage comes in to existence at the highest level of horology through the brand Bvlgari.
