Hands-On: Gerald Charles Maestro GC39 25th Anniversary Edition Watch

Photos by Ripley Sellers and Sean Lorentzen

To celebrate its 25th anniversary, Gerald Charles unveiled a striking limited-edition timepiece at Watches & Wonders Geneva 2025, which reimagines a rare and exclusive model from the brand’s archives. Based upon the Genta-designed GC39 watch from 2005, the new Gerald Charles Maestro GC39 25th Anniversary Edition is hardly an exact recreation of the original, and it elevates the model’s distinct aesthetic with a grade 5 titanium case, a jumping-hours complication, and an intricate multi-component dial that incorporates a slice of blue lapis lazuli. Although the GC39 25th Anniversary Edition still adheres to Genta’s original vision, it is also the largest Maestro watch that the Swiss brand has ever put forward, and it represents an entirely more ornate expression of this fundamentally resplendent concept.

As mentioned in our original news article about the Gerald Charles Maestro GC39 25th Anniversary Edition, the original GC39 watch from 2005 featured a sliding-hour complication, which was developed by master watchmaker Antoine Preziuso. However, the new GC39 25th Anniversary Edition expands upon Genta’s original design with a proper jumping-hour mechanism, where the hours disc instantaneously jumps every 60 minutes to display its next value. Gerald Charles states that its proprietary jumping-hour movement has been developed by the brand’s in-house watchmakers, and we first saw this complication make an appearance inside the Maestro 4.0 Ducati 30° Anniversario 916, which was launched last year in 2024 as a limited edition of 250 pieces. However, while the Ducati-themed piece was a definitively sporty creation with a carbon fiber case and skeletonized dial, the new GC39 25th Anniversary Edition takes the brand’s jumping-hour display in the total opposite aesthetic direction.

The Gerald Charles Maestro GC39 25th Anniversary Edition still features the brand’s signature Baroque-inspired asymmetric case; however, its proportions have been slightly revised to give it a square-shaped profile, instead of being based upon a rectangular footprint like other models from the Maestro collection. Crafted from grade 5 titanium with a high-polished finish, the 34-component case of the GC39 25th Anniversary Edition measures 42mm in diameter by 11mm thick, which makes it a full 3mm wider than the brand’s time-and-date Maestro watches. Realistically speaking, 11mm hardly qualifies as an overtly thick presence, but this represents a 2.3mm increase in height compared to the GC Sport series, and the new GC39 is 2.65mm taller than the Maestro 8.0 Squelette with its micro-rotor movement. The increase in dimensions is immediately apparent on the wrist, although due to its use of titanium, the total weight of the GC39 25th Anniversary Edition is quite manageable at just 96 grams.

Just like other Gerald Charles watches, the top of the Maestro GC39 25th Anniversary Edition’s case is fitted with a flat anti-reflective sapphire crystal, which has been cut in a manner to echo the asymmetric shape of its silhouette. Meanwhile, the reverse side of the watch receives a screw-on caseback with a circular sapphire display window, and protruding from the 3 o’clock side of the case is a signed screw-down crown that helps create an ample 100 meters of water resistance. Unless you plan on going deep-sea diving, a 100-meter depth rating is more than enough to handle virtually any aquatic conditions you might encounter, and I personally love seeing brands create a decidedly dressy timepiece that still offers respectable levels of water resistance.

The dial is the true standout feature on the Gerald Charles Maestro GC39 25th Anniversary Edition, and it features a blue lapis lazuli central section, which is surrounded by a shimmering backdrop that is created with a proprietary micro-chemical “meta-guilloché” process. When viewed from across the room, you’d be forgiven for thinking that this shimmering outer section was created with tiny baguette diamonds asymmetrically set in a radial fashion, but a closer inspection reveals a much more subtle and nuanced texture. Gerald Charles states that this is the first time meta-guilloché has been used in watchmaking, and despite having the word “guilloché” in its name, the technique is actually based on a multi-stage chemical etching process. While high-tech chemical engravings don’t necessarily conjure the same romantic images of a watchmaker spending countless hours working on an antiquated lathe, the final product is a truly visually arresting creation, and it doesn’t quite look like any other watch dial.

Lapis lazuli was Gerald Genta’s personal favorite stone, and it frequently played a role in his works. To visually complement the blue stone central section, the dial of the Maestro GC39 25th Anniversary Edition is adorned with an applied blued steel ring that echoes the Maestro collection’s silhouette, along with small blued steel dots placed at the five-minute markers. Since the hours are displayed through the arc-shaped aperture at 12 o’clock, the GC39 only features one physical hand, and mounted within the center of the dial is a blue skeletonized sword-shaped hand that displays the minutes against a black railroad-style minute track. Printed upon the blue lapis central section is the brand’s 25th anniversary logo to denote the commemorative nature of the Maestro GC39, and Gerald Charles explicitly states that this stylized emblem will only appear on select watches from this year.

Powering the Gerald Charles Maestro GC39 25th Anniversary Edition is the brand’s 38-jewel Manufacture 4.0 Caliber jumping hours movement, which features an automatic-winding design and consists of 265 individual components. Running at a frequency of 28,800vph (4 Hz) with a power reserve of approximately 50 hours, Gerald Charles’ Manufacture 4.0 Caliber offers fairly standard on-paper specs; however, maintaining these numbers required a bit of creative engineering as its hours disc is 25 times heavier than a traditional hour hand. Despite the fact that jumping hours mechanisms are inherently rather power-hungry complications, the brand’s Manufacture 4.0 Caliber retains the exact same 50-hour power reserve as its standard time-and-date calibers, although it’s undeniable that this is still a decent step below what is offered by other contemporary in-house movements.

Just as you would expect from Gerald Charles, the finishing on its Manufacture 4.0 Caliber jumping hours movement is executed to very high standards, with rhodium-plated gears set among matching bridges that are adorned by perlage and Geneva stripes. Additionally, the movement is fitted with a gold-finished rotor that is decorated with the brand’s honeycomb motif, and it is engraved with the same 25th anniversary logo that appears on the dial. Including the additional height of its signature jumping hours module, the the Manufacture 4.0 Caliber comes in at a total of 6.15mm thick, and since the module is fitted to the dial-side of the movement, the view through the display window in the caseback reveals a self-winding movement that looks almost identical to what can be found inside the Maestro 2.0 Ultra-Thin Lapis Lazuli that was released at the beginning of this year as part of the brand’s ongoing 25th anniversary celebrations.

Fitted to the lugs of the Gerald Charles Maestro GC39 25th Anniversary Edition is a two-piece strap made from royal blue vulcanized rubber, and it offers the same fundamental design as what can be observed throughout the brand’s contemporary collection. Textured with a Clous de Paris pattern on its top surface with a Gerald Charles logo motif adorning its interior, the strap is wider than what can be found on the standard three-handed Maestro models, and it tapers from 24mm at the lugs down to 20mm on the underside of the wrist. Additionally, unlike the straps fitted to the majority of Gerald Charles’ watches, which are furnished with traditional tang-style buckles, the strap for the GC39 25th Anniversary Edition is completed by a butterfly-style folding clasp, and the wider-than-normal strap further accentuates the model’s sizable presence on the wrist, while simultaneously feeling proportional to its larger case.

Unlike the definitively sporty Maestro GC Sport Tennis Watch that was also launched this year at Watches & Wonders Geneva 2025, the Maestro GC39 25th Anniversary Edition represents the total opposite side of Gerald Charles’ catalog, and it is one of the most dressy and visually resplendent models within the Swiss brand’s entire lineup. With an official retail price of $42,300 USD, the Gerald Charles Maestro GC39 25th Anniversary Edition (ref. GC39-TNPS-LSEN-RSDP-REM) costs a hundred bucks less than the Ducati-themed jumping hours watch that debuted last year, although it will be produced in significantly smaller numbers as a limited edition of 100 examples. While this undeniably feels rather expensive for a watch that does not feature a significant amount of precious metals, the GC39 is ultimately priced consistently with the rest of Gerald Charles’ offerings, and it sits right in the middle between the brand’s standard three-handed Maestro models and its skeletonized Maestro 8.0 Squelette series. For more information, please visit the Gerald Charles website.