gérald genta Introduces The Geneva Minute Repeater Golden Obsidian

The gérald genta Geneva collection was announced during LVMH Watch Week last January, in the form of two time-only watches called, with irrefutable logic, the Geneva Time-Only watches. The basic characteristic of the collection is the cushion shaped step-bezel design that we’d seen before then, in the 2025 gérald genta Minute Repeater, and gérald genta let us know when the Time-Only models were announced, that the minute repeater had been, so to speak, retconned into the collection as well.

The first edition of the gérald genta Minute Repeater had an onyx dial, and an intricately constructed case which had been milled to open up air spaces on its underside, and in which the gongs, which look at first as if they are attached to the movement plate in the usual way, were in fact screwed onto gold flanges which were integral to the case itself. The point of the whole construction was to amplify and enrich the sound by using the case as a resonator, and by allowing sound to efficiently propagate directly through the case and dial while losing as little energy as possible, and the result was a bright, crisp, loud-and-clear chime. gérald genta has now released the second version of the Geneva Minute Repeater, but this time with a rather unusual dial material seldom seen in watchmaking: golden obsidian.

Obsidian is a reasonably well known mineral in its own right – chemically, it’s mostly silicon dioxide, and it forms when silica rich lava cools so rapidly during a volcanic eruption, that a crystal structure has no time to form. It’s got an eerily glossy look and when it fractures, it can, like window glass, produce edges sharp enough that blades made from the material can be used in microsurgery.

Usually, it’s a more or less homogenous black through and through, but occasionally, tiny inclusions of glass and other minerals, like magnetite, are caught inside, and the result is a form of obsidian with a subtle pattern of striations distributed through it, which glitter like shot silk.

The material is tricky to work with thanks to its fragility – it is after all, glass, and the inclusions make it even more delicate to work with, and I don’t remember ever seeing it used before for a watch dial. The basic dial design for the Minute Repeater Golden Obsidian, is otherwise very much like that of the onyx dial model, including the cleverly designed chemin de fer minutes track, in which a perfect inner circle is framed by an ovoid outer circle which connects the minute track visually, to the shape of the case.

The case construction itself is identical to the onyx model.

In the second image, you can see the tongue of the flange to which the foot of the gongs is screwed, extending under the mainplate, at about 3:00 or so. The movement itself is the same caliber GG-002 seen in the onyx model, and it shares the same very high level of fine finishing and design features, including the octagonal shape of the housing for the chiming governor, which controls the speed of the strike. As with the onyx model, the caseback is screwed directly into the bezel, which improves the rigidity of the case and augments the sound as well.

Despite the elaborate care taken to finish the movement to a high standard, the same basic approach to finishing informs the caliber GG-002 which we’ve also seen in the Daniel Roth calibers from La Fabrique du Temps. Finishing in these cases is never done just for its own sake, and it never becomes so attention-getting in itself that it distracts from the overall effect of the movement as a whole (and for that matter, of the watch as a whole; high-end finishing nowadays can end up feeling as if it’s wearing the watch, in the same way a too-foppish gent can look as if he’s being worn by an overly attention seeking suit).

Price is on request and although it’s not a limited edition, we can expect annual production to be quite small. Minute repeaters are fascinating for many reasons, but it occurs to me that one of those reasons is that it’s the only complication where the case is not just a passive part of the design; it’s also an active part of the complication inasmuch as its construction helps shape the sound.

The gérald genta Golden Obsidian is a pretty thing, as is the obsidian repeater, no? I can only envy whomever out there ends up with both of them (or even one of them, as far as that goes).

The gérald gental Minute Repeater Golden Obsidian, ref. EBFE02A1: case, Yellow gold, 3N, 40mm x 9.6mm; black onyx dial; yellow gold hands and indexes. Movement, caliber GG-002, hand wound minute repeater, 32.4mm x 5.46mm, running at 3Hz/12,600 vph in 32 jewels; power reserve 80 hours. The 1916 Company is proud to be an authorized retailer for gérald genta. For current pricing and availability, please contact us.