It All Started from Gerald Genta

When we are talking about watches, there’s no limit to age. Started at a relatively young age, Samuel Ramna started his watch journey when he started his university days. Gerald Genta is the name that started his journey.

This discussion started in one fine afternoon, when we sat down on a little cafe with a tray of watches that he brought specially for that day. You can call him as Samuel (Sam will do), he’s a young passionate collector that has a unique taste and preference as well as interesting approach into watch collecting. His collection ranges from vintage Breitling chronograph to a unique Mickey Mouse watches by Gerald Genta.

Sam’s journey begins with his retro fantasy collection from Gerald Genta. He learned about the existence of this collection from a neo-vintage ads and immediately got struck by its rather catchy headline “The Watch That Could be Mistaken for a Child’s Watch”. After 2 years of hunting, he finally found this piece (a yellow gold Donald Duck baseball dial) when he’s browsing through Instagram and courageously messaged the owner (read: buying watch through Instagram is unheard of at that time, at least for him). Something was then arranged (He is studying in New York and the watch is in Singapore), and long behold, he finally acquired it. This piece interests him because he feels like the watch is an epitome of luxury understatement. 

Since then, he continued his journey to collect another fantasy pieces by Gerald Genta. Eventually in 2017 (after 5 years of hunt), he finally completed his grail collection of Gerald Genta Fantasy pieces which can be refer to @disneygenta account. Unfortunately, he gradually traded out these pieces to fund his newfound obsession of great condition vintage pieces from Rolex, Heuer, and Patek Philippe.

Firstly, we were introduced to a Gerald Genta Retro Fantasy Mickey Mouse Ref. M.10, watch that has the most influence in his journey. Reminiscence of his past collection. The unique functionality of jumping hours combined with the fact that Disney did an official collaboration with Gerald Genta is just amazing. The perfect watch for people who love to stand in between the fantasy of a young kid and adult watch game. The sizing of 36mm always looks good on the wrist, especially suitable as a daily wearer.

Continuing on with his journey, Samuel traded out some of his Gerald Genta Fantasy pieces (including the yellow gold Donald Duck baseball) for a full set vintage Heuer Carrera reference 2447N (Check out his Youtube review on this piece) which later he (regrettably) traded with a vintage Rolex which speaks more to him at that time. The vintage Rolex piece is a Submariner reference 5513 from 1965 with patina’ed gilt dial, worn on a jubilee bracelet. Opportunity to see this piece and its amazing details is a special moment for us. (Again) This 5513 was traded out recently for a yellow gold Audemars Piguet Royal Oak day date Ref. 5572BA which he feels is in a much better condition.This demonstrates his strive into collecting the best condition of a particular watch model (or reference).

When we talk about watch we also talk about birthyear watch like @sliceoftime.id with his speedmaster and Samuel also has one, Girard Perregaux Laureato Ref. 8010 from his birth year (which is 1995). The reason he chose this watch is not only because of the year but more into the design itself, when you see the octagon-shaped case and its integrated bracelet design, it may resembles a mash-up of two most successful watch designs of recent times, Audemars Piguet Royal Oak and Patek Philippe Nautilus (which are both designed by Gerald Genta). What is more surprising is that, according to him, this piece is the rarest configuration of this particular Laureato model, set with a blue Clou-de-Paris dial, silver script writings, and hidden bracelet clasp.

How a watch looks is key for Samuel. The piece that can represent that maybe this vintage Breitling chronograph with two-tone glossy gilt dial, housed in a clamshell case. He acquired this piece through (you guessed it) Instagram from its previous owner who is a Japanese watch collector. This piece came to him when he tried to find a vintage chronograph that can serve as a gateway drug for his obsession towards vintage Longines 13zn chronograph (unobtanium, credits to John Goldberger in his Talking Watches episode). Details from the dial (read: see the open six), perfect 36mm clamshell case are clear reasons why he would not pass on it. When we asked him which piece that you want to have in your profile shot and will be a long-lasting piece in your collection, Sam immediately referred to this piece. 

Last but not least is his latest acquisition, Patek Philippe 5065A from 2007. A piece that he has hunted for a quite some time, as an exploration into another watch collecting realm, the luxury from Patek Philippe. It fits perfectly on hands yet stays subtle is the key of this piece especially when we combined it with rubber strap. Imagine putting it on an olive green rubber strap (shout out to John Mayer).

So, which piece that you think the most unique from Sam? 

Thank you Sam for you hospitality to welcome us and we can’t wait to listen to another story from you.

Danny Aw, berdetik.co