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The brand has undergone a two-year rebuilding after it was acquired by Breitling in 2023.
Universal Genève made a long-anticipated return this month. The Swiss watch company was founded in 1884, but fell on hard times during the quartz crisis of the 1970s — a fallow period for watchmakers — and largely dropped off the luxury watch industry’s radar.
Following a surge in collector interest this century, it was acquired by Breitling (which is majority-owned by the Swiss equity firm Partners Group Holding AG) in late 2023 in a deal reportedly worth around 60 million Swiss francs ($75 million) over five years.
Speaking on a video call last month, Georges Kern, chief executive of what he called a “house of brands” that will include Breitling, Universal Genève and another defunct heritage brand, called Gallet, that will be reintroduced later this year, said Universal Genève will “add something totally new to the high-end watch market,” but that it would “not be a niche brand.”
Mr. Kern introduced a collection divided into three price segments that he called Prêt-à-Porter, Capsule and Couture. Most feature one of a suite of new in-house mechanical movements with high levels of finishing, with prices starting from around 15,000 Swiss francs and rising to six figures for low-volume, high-jewelry pieces set with precious stones.
There are four new product lines. The Polerouter, based on a 1950s design by Gerald Genta, the artist who created Patek Philippe’s Nautilus and Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oak; the Compax, an update to a midcentury chronograph known by collectors as the Nina Rindt, after the 1960s Finnish fashion model; the reversible Art Deco-style Cabriolet; and a jewel-like piece aimed at women, called Mini Disco.
Mr. Kern, who has a stake in the business, declined to say how much had been invested in the two-year rebuilding of Universal Genève. He said the brand was targeting 2,000 pieces this year and would then “dramatically increase in the following years.”
He said he would align the brand to “style and couture” under the slogan “Le Couturier de la Montre,” and return it to former glories. “In the old days,” he said, “Universal Genève was more or less at the level of Patek Philippe.”
