Gérald Genta’s Widow and Daughter Vouch for the New IWC Ingenieur Automatic 50th Anniversary Editions

While the Gérald Genta name will be invoked as long as mechanical watchmaking survives, many collectors recognize that several of his early designs were not immediate commercial successes upon release. However, as models like the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak (1972) and Patek Philippe Nautilus (1976) experienced unprecedented appreciation over recent decades, numerous parties have laid claim to his expansive legacy.

Launched this past week, the IWC Schaffhausen Ingenieur Automatic 50th Anniversary Editions reframe this historical narrative, as his widow and daughter have explicitly thrown their weight behind these faithful tribute timepieces.

A Legacy Divided

While numerous continuous-production watches, such as the Bulgari Bulgari (1977) and the Omega Constellation “Manhattan” (1982), originated from Genta’s drawing board, entire brands have also been revived in his name.

In 1998, under financial pressure and seeking to scale production, Gérald Genta sold his eponymous brand to the Singaporean luxury watch retailer The Hour Glass. Following the Asian financial crisis, The Hour Glass resold the company in 2000 to the Italian luxury conglomerate Bulgari. When LVMH acquired Bulgari in 2011, the legal rights and historical archives of the Gérald Genta brand naturally transitioned under the LVMH umbrella, which ultimately relaunched it as an independent haute horlogerie manufacture supported by La Fabrique du Temps.

Meanwhile, having relinquished the rights to his own name, Gérald Genta established a new independent brand in 2000 called Gerald Charles. To focus purely on design without administrative burdens, Genta decided in 2003 to sell the company to the Ziviani family, led by his long-time friend Franco Ziviani (former CEO of Audemars Piguet Italy). Under this arrangement, the Ziviani family handled business operations while Genta remained Chief Designer until his passing in 2011, allowing the family to steward his final design legacy into the modern era.

However, Genta’s immediate family has rarely endorsed modern-day interpretations of his work. Notably, his wife Evelyne and daughter Alexia worked directly with Credor during the modern relaunch of the Credor Locomotive, offering guidance and verifying its design authenticity. Evelyne also gave her full support to LVMH’s relaunch of his namesake brand, granting La Fabrique du Temps watchmakers direct access to Gérald Genta’s private archive of original sketches and design drawings.

As co-founders of the Gérald Genta Heritage Association, Evelyne and Alexia joined IWC management on September 15^th 2026 to launch the Ingenieur Automatic 50th Anniversary Editions, lending their official blessing to a pair of timepieces featuring his signature integrated bracelet and exposed bezel screws.

Introducing the IWC Ingenieur Automatic 50th Anniversary Editions

Genta did not create the original Ingenieur, but he was instrumental in redefining it. While the Ingenieur was initially launched in 1955 as an anti-magnetic wristwatch equipped with a Faraday cage for scientific and medical professionals working around fields up to 80,000 amperes per meter (1,000 gauss), Genta designed the Ingenieur SL Ref. 1832 in 1976 (“SL” standing for “Steel Line”). This overhaul endowed the utilitarian tool watch with a sleek silhouette and flowing architectural lines. While the screws of the original Ingenieur’s bottle cap-style bezel never aligned perfectly, Genta’s revamp made sure they did.

IWC Schaffhausen revived the line in 2005, though the manufacture alternated between the 1955 non-integrated bracelet architecture and the 1976 Ingenieur SL’s integrated layout for years before establishing the 1976 silhouette as the structural foundation of the core collection from 2023 onward. Strictly speaking, this pair of new Ingenieur Automatic 50th Anniversary Editions marks the golden jubilee of the 1976 Ingenieur SL Ref. 1832.

Departing from the textured grid pattern found across many catalog references—including the recent Ingenieur Automatic 35 Pool Blue Ref. IW324902—the new 40mm Ingenieur Automatic IW328910 and 35mm Ingenieur Automatic Ref. IW324909 feature brushed silver dials referencing a rare historical variant created by Genta during the 1970s.

These dials are fitted with rhodium-plated, Super-LumiNova-filled hands and indices. While the date window intersects the ‘3’ index on the 40mm execution, this index is replaced entirely by the date aperture on the 35mm model.

The 40mm reference measures 10.8mm in height and is powered by the proprietary automatic Caliber 32111, featuring a 5-day power reserve and a Pellaton winding system—a patented IWC innovation that uses pawls to maximize wrist motion that is converted into stored energy. It is priced at US$15,000.

The 35mm reference measures 9.4mm in height and is powered by the automatic Caliber 47110—derived from the Cartier 1847 MC—delivering a 42-hour power reserve. It retails for US$12,900.

While some Genta-inspired Ingenieur models like the 40mm Ref. IW328910 retain an anti-magnetic soft-iron inner case and an engraved caseback, the 35mm Ref. IW324909 features a sapphire display back revealing its mainplate and rotor that have been finished with Côtes de Genève.

Both novelties offer 100m of water resistance and are secured by Genta’s signature integrated three-link steel bracelet. The bracelet on the 40mm edition features a uniform satin-brushed finish, whereas the 35mm model incorporates contrasting polished center links.

Limited to 1,150 pieces per reference, both anniversary models feature a special commemorative “Ingenieur 50” logo positioned at 6 o’clock on the dial.

“Even when the whole world was telling him, ‘what you designed is not good, we don’t like it,’ he would always respond, ‘you’ll see, they’ll catch up.’ It’s satisfying to see the Ingenieur today and seeing that dad was right.” shares Alexia, in a mini movie that IWC published on YouTube together with the novelties.

“If Gérald Genta was here today, and he was with us toasting the 50 years of the Ingenieur, he would be so happy that the Ingenieur has kept (its) DNA, that the design has been truly respected,” remarks Evelyne. “He would appreciate the fact that it’s been made with better techniques, with advanced mechanisms—life moves on and Gérald never wanted anything to be static.”

“In those days, the case was put on a strap or bracelet (made by another) manufacturer. (But Gérald thought that) the Ingenieur should be one object. This was a time when steel was not accepted as luxury, and yet he wanted (this) watch to be a luxury item (because) he felt steel, particularly for the Ingenieur, was the right material. It took time to be recognized, but look where (we) are today.”

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Andre Frois

Asia Editor · Haute Time

Andre Frois, previously the Editor-in-Chief of Revolution Asia, brings a wealth of experience to Haute Time. A Singaporean of Portuguese-Chinese descent, Frois has been creating compelling watch content since 2010 for prestigious publications such as Tatler, World of Watches, and The Peak. Renowned for his ability to distill the technical, historical, and financial aspects of watches into accessible narratives, he has also made a mark with investigative stories for VICE and the South China Morning Post. A graduate of NTU’s School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering with a specialization in biomedical engineering, Frois furthered his expertise with a specialist diploma in Sport Science.