Gérald Genta is the most celebrated and prolific watch designer of all time. Over the course of his career, he penned more than 100,000 designs for a wide variety of brands from Seiko to Rolex, with his most renowned masterpieces being the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak and the Patek Philippe Nautilus, which pioneered the concept of a luxury steel sports watch. In 1969, Genta established his eponymous company to produce custom watches, culminating in the landmark Grande Sonnerie of 1994, then the world’s most complicated wristwatch. The brand was acquired by The Hour Glass in 1998 and, subsequently, Bvlgari in 2000.