Hands-On Review of the Gerald Charles Masterlink Perpetual Calendar
Given their pedigree and heritage, Gerald Charles are, wrongfully, short-changed on the attention they are given. Founded as a personal venture by none other than Gérald Charles Genta in the early 2000s, the brand has developed an impressive range of watches that all revolve around a single case shape drawn by the illustrious designer. That case is the Maestro, which has come to be known for its symmetrical asymmetry. Most watches are symmetrical on both the horizontal and the vertical axis, but, if you’ll excuse the pun, that’s not the case here. Genta is widely renowned for his work on the Nautilus, Royal Oak, and Ingenieur, all integrated bracelet watches, so it is only logical that Gerald Charles has its own design. The integrated bracelet evolution of the original Maestro is the Masterlink, and GC delivered quite the update at this year’s Watches & Wonders.
The Gerald Charles Masterlink Perpetual Calendar is a major departure and big step-up from previous iterations of the brand’s premier integrated bracelet sports watch. The arrival of such a complication and its execution are pushing the brand into new territory, signaling some big things to come. Let’s see what this original Genta design has to offer!
The dial, or lack thereof if you opt for the sapphire variant, on this watch is probably my favorite aspect of this piece. If you lean towards the black fumé dial, you get a sleek, subtle, and stealthy-looking watch that only a certain type of connoisseur will be able to recognize. The layout is classic and understated. The perpetual calendar could not be or look more traditional in this setting. However, if you opt for the sapphire dial variant, you’re getting a completely different watch. In terms of dial, there really isn’t much, bar a small minute track around the outside of the “dial.” The perpetual calendar counters and subdials take center stage against the backdrop of the exquisitely finished, almost openworked, dial-side of the caliber. Your attention is immediately drawn toward the calendar elements rather than the time display in a rather theatrical and counterintuitive way. Is this a bad thing? Absolutely not. The sapphire dial is purely changing the way we see the complication.
The big update to the Masterlink is the movement. The perpetual calendar, arguably one of the most complex and noble of complications, is a new addition to the collection. Moving away from time-only watches to such a significant complication is a big step, but one that Gerald Charles has taken in its stride. I will not explain the concept of a perpetual calendar to you or drone on about the inner workings of the mechanism; however, I will draw your attention to one significant detail: the shape of the caliber. This may seem wholly insignificant to you, but Gerald Charles has opted to design a caliber that matches the shape of their case. Why is this important? Well, many brands that have non-traditional case shapes simply use round calibers that they drop into their watches. To design a complication for a non-traditionally shaped baseplate requires bucketloads of time, expertise, and effort: hallmarks of a beautifully crafted watch.
The case is by far and away the most significant part of this watch, both in terms of visuals and in terms of heritage. Starting with the latter, it would be criminal not to mention that the shape is directly inherited from an original Gérald Genta sketch. Few watches can claim this, and to carry it forward so brilliantly is momentous. Moving on to the actual shape of the case, you will have noticed the asymmetric silhouette: the bottom and top of the case, whilst similar, are rather different. You might expect that the curved bottom edge of the case would clash horrendously with the straight-cut top edge, but for some reason that I cannot even start to explain, it looks and feels perfectly natural. To me, watches that have such a feeling of nonchalant ease and elegance are exactly what all brands should be trying to produce. In terms of dimensions and wearing experience, the 40mm titanium case fits like a glove. Most square or rectangular watches can feel a lot bigger than round watches of a similar diameter, but I can guarantee that this is absolutely not an issue here.
On an integrated bracelet sports watch, it makes sense to talk about the bracelet immediately after having discussed the case. As previously mentioned, the Masterlink’s asymmetric silhouette is a big part of this watch that continues into the bracelet. The designers of most integrated bracelet sports watches put in a herculean effort into this part of the watch. They need to get the design absolutely spot on, or the design and wearing experience will be ruined, so you can only imagine the effort that must go into designing two separate styles of bracelet for the same watch. Yes, that’s exactly what the designers at Gerald Charles have done. The top set of lugs are bestowed with a design with straight links, whilst the bottom set are gifted some curvaceous, almost scale-like ones. The concept of having two different bracelet designs on the watch sounds ridiculous, but in practice it makes perfect sense. Not only does it look great, but it wears fantastically. Having tried on Nautiluses, Royal Oaks, and Ingenieurs in the past, I much prefer the way that the Masterlink sits on my wrist.
Final Thoughts
The Masterlink Perpetual Calendar is, I hope, the first in a long line of many complications that we will see from Gerald Charles. Starting with such a strong statement piece, the brand is flexing its muscles, both from a design perspective as well as from a watchmaking perspective, showing us that they belong with the other big-league independents. If they continue to produce watches of this caliber, I fully expect them to be one of the hottest brands in the next couple of years, and I think it will only be a short while before we see more of their pieces on people’s wrists.
Find out more about this watch here.
