Who Designed My Watch? Omega, Audemars, Patek Philippe & Rolex | The Classroom S02: Episode 5

Rolex is a house built on design; we know watches like the Daytona, Submariner, GMT Master, and Datejust on sight; why don't we know who designed them? While Rolex subsumes the watch’s designer to the sanctity of the Rolex brand, most modern luxury watch brands are eager to promote the image and prestige of their in-house and partnering watch design stars. It wasn’t always this way. During the early 20th century, brands such as Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, and Vacheron Constantin (then Vacheron & Constantin) generally outsourced case-making, dial making, and the styling of both to independent watch designers. As with the early auto industry, watchmaking was the domain of engineers and micro-mechanical technicians who designed and assembled movements or individual watch movement components. Watches from Omega and Rolex were “styled” by the engineers who conceived their calibers; freelance watch designers grew in parallel with automotive coachbuilders who built custom bodies atop rolling chassis from manufacturers. But while the auto industry quickly internalized the task of industrial design – General Motors led the way with Harley Earl – the watch industry continued to rely on outsourced design until the 1990s. Historic 20th century watch designers only came to prominence due to later scholarship by watch collectors. Consider the body of work that rarely was acknowledged until the 1999s: Gerald Genta (Patek Philippe Nautilus, Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, Omega Constell