Gerald Charles Maestro GC39 Mitoraj Turns Luci di Nara Into A Watch

A unique Grand Maestro Jumping Hour translates Igor Mitoraj’s sculptural language into a three-dimensional timepiece created for TimeForArt.

Gerald Charles Maestro GC39 Mitoraj marks a first in the history of the Geneva-based Maison. Created as a unique Grand Maestro Jumping Hour for TimeForArt, the piece brings together contemporary art, independent watchmaking and philanthropy through a collaboration with Atelier Mitoraj and Galleria d’Arte Contini. The project supports Swiss Institute, with proceeds from TimeForArt dedicated to its exhibitions, artist residencies and educational programmes.

Gerald Charles Maestro GC39 Mitoraj: Where Art Meets Horology

Rather than treating Igor Mitoraj’s work as a graphic motif applied to a watch, Gerald Charles approached the collaboration as a translation of sculpture into horological architecture. The starting point was Luci di Nara, a work that reflects Mitoraj’s distinctive language: idealised classical beauty interrupted by fragmentation and incomplete forms, where absence becomes as significant as what remains. The result is not an illustration of the sculpture, but a miniature three-dimensional interpretation designed specifically for the watch.

The choice of the Grand Maestro Jumping Hour was particularly important. Its architecture naturally creates an open area on the lower portion of the dial, while the hours appear through a guichet positioned asymmetrically at the top. A single central minute hand completes the indication. By moving away from traditional symmetry, Gerald Charles created enough visual space for the miniature sculpture to become the defining element of the dial rather than simply another decorative detail.

A Sculpture At The Centre Of The Dial

The face of Luci di Nara is produced as a separate three-dimensional sculpture in brass, finished with a warm 4N PVD treatment. It sits against a precisely machined guilloché background, creating a contrast between the sculptural volume and the finely structured surface beneath it. Polished 4N cabochon indexes and the Maestro’s characteristic railway minute track frame the composition without competing with the artwork.

This approach also reflects the broader design philosophy of Gerald Charles. The Maison was founded in 2000 by Gérald Charles Genta, and its designs continue to draw on the relationship between watchmaking, sculpture and architecture. The Grand Maestro case is itself built around sculpted, interlocking lines inspired by the dynamism of Baroque architecture, with Francesco Borromini cited as a particular influence. In the GC39 Mitoraj, that architectural character becomes the framework for a distinctly artistic dial.

The Jumping-Hour Mechanism

Underneath the unusual dial is the automatic Calibre GCA3900, an in-house-developed Swiss Manufacture movement dedicated to the Grand Maestro Jumping Hour. It contains 265 components and 38 jewels, operates at 4 Hz and provides approximately 50 hours of power reserve. The movement is finished with Côtes de Genève and perlage on the bridges, while the module wheels are rhodium-plated.

The jumping-hour display also plays an important role in the overall design. During the sixty minutes leading up to the next hour, the mechanism progressively stores the energy required to move the hour disc. At the moment of transition, that energy is released in a rapid jump, allowing the hour to change almost instantaneously while the central minute indication continues its normal progression. The complication therefore does more than display time differently: it creates the architectural freedom that allows the sculpture to occupy the lower half of the dial.

A Grand Maestro In Titanium

The watch is housed in the 42 × 42 mm Grand Maestro case, produced in polished Grade 5 titanium. Despite its square proportions and sculptural construction, the case measures just 11 mm in total thickness. A 4N PVD-treated titanium bezel and a screw-down crown with Clous de Paris finishing add further details to the case architecture, while water resistance reaches 100 metres.

The closed Grade 5 titanium caseback continues the artistic narrative. It is engraved with Luci di Nara after Igor Mitoraj, Mitoraj’s signature and the TimeForArt identity, alongside acknowledgements of Atelier Mitoraj and Galleria d’Arte Contini. The designation PIÈCE UNIQUE makes the singular nature of the project explicit.

Created For TimeForArt

The GC39 Mitoraj was created specifically for TimeForArt, the benefit watch auction established by New York’s Swiss Institute in partnership with Phillips. Since its debut in 2022, TimeForArt has brought watch brands together around unique, specially commissioned pieces, raising $2.4 million for Swiss Institute across its first two editions. One hundred percent of the proceeds benefit the organisation’s exhibitions, artist residencies, education programmes and community initiatives.

The 2026 edition is scheduled to take place at Phillips New York on 5 December and brings together 26 participating watch brands. In this context, the Gerald Charles piece represents the Maison’s first act of philanthropy dedicated to the arts, while also extending its long-standing interest in sculptural and architectural forms into a direct collaboration with the artistic legacy of Igor Mitoraj.

One Watch, One Sculpture

The Gerald Charles Maestro GC39 Mitoraj ultimately works because the artistic and mechanical elements are not treated as separate layers. The jumping-hour architecture creates the space for Mitoraj’s fragmented face, while the sculptural dial gives the unusual time display an equally distinctive visual purpose. The case, meanwhile, provides an architectural frame that connects the piece to the design language established by Gérald Charles Genta.

Produced only once, the GC39 Mitoraj is a true Pièce Unique. It is not simply a watch carrying an artwork, but an attempt to make the sculpture and the horological object function as a single creation. As Igor Mitoraj once expressed, “True emotions are felt only once, each one always different from the other” — a fitting idea for a watch that will exist in this form only once.

Technical Specifications

For more information, please visit the official Gerald Charles website.

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