The Hellraiser: Gerald Genta Octo Tourbillon Sunray

The new Gerald Genta Octo Tourbillon Sunray automatic watch brings you an unusually styled yellow gold case combined with a complicated automatic caliber featuring a finely executed tourbillon escapement.

“The Hellraiser” — these are the first two words that come to mind when I see the new Gerald Genta Octo Tourbillon Sunray wrist watch. Sporting an intricate yellow gold dial, the timepiece surely looks like a highly expensive and an extremely portable portal to Hell.

However, the intention is quite the opposite. In its press release, Gerald Genta says that the octagonal shape of the case was chosen because “eight” is a lucky number in China. It is associated with wealth and richness and the Swiss watch makers apparently plan to make the most out of it.

Combining a satin-finished fixed bezel with mirror-polished body, the 43 mm x 48 mm case of the watch looks like an ancient snuff box. However, it is the dial that really catches the eye.

Sporting two superimposed yellow-gold squares partially coated with black PVD, the dial of the watch features not twelve, but whole thirteen (tell me about lucky numbers!) hand-polished Arabic numerals. Optimized for the ideal retrograde time display, the complex face of the watch looks like the new Gerald Genta Octo Tourbillon Sunray was designed to just to tell time, but to actually open yet another layer of reality to those capable of solving its riddle.

The huge tourbillon at 6 o’clock that sits deeply inside a golden pit further increases the eerie feeling that the watch radiates.

It is not clearly stated what kind of movement was used to power the watch, but I assume that it is the gorgeous GG 9051 automatic caliber. Manufactured at Gerald Genta’s own facilities, the movement is plated with gold and is equipped with a skeletonized oscillating weight.

Well, however frightening the watch may look, the new Gerald Genta Octo Tourbillon Sunray is, to my taste, one of the best offerings in the whole Gerald Genta’s collection of watches available this year.

Photos: Gerald Genta

Gerald Genta Octo Tourbillon Sunray watch specification

Price range: N/A, very expensive
Movement: Automatic, in-house
Complications: Tourbillon, retrograde hours
Power reserve: 64 hours
Case material: Yellow gold
Case size: 43 mm
Case height: N/A
Dial: Yellow gold with black
Water resistance: 100 m
Strap: Crocodile leather strap
Crystal: Sapphire