Universal Genève Is Back. Here's What You Need to Know About the New Watches

The wait is over. Today, Universal Genève, the iconic Swiss watchmaker established in 1894 and which made its greatest cultural impact in the mid-20th century, returns to the market after a long hiatus. As of 2023, Universal Genève is owned by Partners Group, a Swiss private equity firm that also holds a stake in Breitling, and its long-anticipated and much-teased relaunch brings the brand back to what many consider its rightful place in the upper echelon of international watch brands. Here is a look at each of the four permanent collections that have been presented. 

The Old: As I explore in greater detail in this article, the original Universal Genéve Polerouter (initially called the Polarouter and issued exclusively to pilot of Scandinavian Airlines Systems (SAS) debuted in 1954, coinciding with the first transcontinental flights made by SAS from the United States to Europe over the North Pole. Its designer was a precocious 23-year-old named Gérald Genta, who would go on to design other iconic watches, like Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oak and Patek Philippe’s Nautilus, in the years and decades to come. The Polerouter was notable for its 34.5mm steel case with twisted bombé lugs, sharply pointed triangular hands, and a clean, dateless dial bordered by a textured inner ring. Other additions, like a trapezoidal date window, followed in the 1960s. The original watch housed a now-rare “bumper” automatic caliber and eventually a micro-rotor driven movement that was one of the thinnest in the world at the time. 

The New: The new Polerouter models carry on the largely period-appropriate spirit of the unique pieces that Universal unveiled in 2023. The round cases are offered in two sizes, 39mm (with the trapezoidal date window) and 37mm (without date), in either stainless steel or 18k rose gold, with the emblematic twisted lugs. The dials all feature the model’s classic crosshair motif that elegantly divides the dial into sectors with distinct textural finishes, while another textural motif adorns the outer ring that hosts the hour markers. Inside all models is the new, ultra-thin (3.8mm), microtor-driven Caliber UG-110, meticulously finished and bearing 72 hours of power reserve. 

The 39mm models are available in steel, with black or blue dials, and in rose gold, with brown or black dials. The blue-dialed model comes on a new version of UG’s “brick” bracelet, which is interchangeable with an alligator leather strap. Like each of the relaunched models, the new Polerouter series also includes capsule collections, including the 39mm Polerouter Hardston editions, with fibrous stone dials (Lapis, tiger’s eye, and bullseye) displaying the maison’s historic mastery of stone marquetry. 

The Old: Universal Geneve introduced the first watch called the Compax in 1936. It was the first triple-register chronograph watch.with subdials for the elapsed minutes and hours as well as the running seconds — a design that is ubiquitous on chronographs today. The Compax gained a new measure of pop-culture visibility in the 1960s when Finnish model Nina Rindt, wife of the Formula One driver Jochen Rindt, was photographed wearing it at the racetrack while timing her husband’s laps. Her watch, which now bears the nickname “Nna” or “Rindt,” was distinguished by a bicolor “panda” dial, a red chronograph hand (reportedly a personalized touch) and a brown leather Bund strap.

The New: Universal Geneve leans heavily on the classic style of Nina Rindt’s famous watch in its modern Compax collection. The high-contrast dials (“panda” and “reverse panda,” the latter also historically nicknamed “Evil Nina”) and ceramic tachymeter-scale bezels of the core models are enhanced by sun-brushing on the main dial, applied hour markers, and faceted hands. The case measures 39.5mm and boasts alternating brushing and polishing on its surfaces. The movement is another new, in-house automatic with an integrated micro-rotor, Caliber UG-200, which also incorporates a chronograph mechanism driven by a column wheel and a vertical clutch with traversing bridge.

The core models (which UG refers to as “Prêt-à-Porter editions) include two models in steel with black-and-white “panda” and “reverse panda” dials and one in 18k rose gold with a midnight blue dial and bezel and white subdials. Both steel models are on bracelets inspired by the midcentury styles of legendary Swiss bracelet maker Gay Freres, and also come with the retro-evocative leather Bund strap, which can be easily interchanged. The gold, midnight-blue edition is mounted on a more traditional blue alligator leather strap. 

The Old: In 1933, the heyday of Art Deco, Universal Genève introduced the Ideo, aka the “Cabriolet,” which was one of the first rectangular watches with a reversible case; similarly to Jaeger-LeCoultre’s much more famous Reverso, which had preceded it just two years earlier, the watch featured the clever and useful ability to flip the case over to protect the dial. It also featured the hallmarks of Art Deco, which concentrated on clean lines, geometrical structures, and intriguing use of surface materials. 

The New: Today’s revamped Cabriolet collection carries forth the stylistic hallmarks of two particular giants of the Art Deco movement: the pioneering French painter and typography designer Cassandre and the Polish portrait artist Tamara de Lempicka. Cassandre’s famed Bifur typeface, found on 1930s posters, is employed here for the numerals on the high-gloss dials, created in lacquer inlay to emphasize the illusion of depth. The faceted rectangular case measures 45.2mm long by 24.2mm wide, 8mm thick, and rotates in the same fashion as the original. The rearward side of the case, which hosts brushed and polished finishing across its angular architecture, has a sapphire window to show off the manually wound UG-111 movement, which duplicates the weekend-proof 72-hour power reserve of its self-winding siblings and beats at a more leisurely 3 Hz. 

The “Prêt à Porter” version of the Cabriolet offers four models in its initial release: stainless steel with blue dial on a nine-row steel bracelet; steel with a red dial and diamond-set bezel on a red alligator strap; steel with a white dial on a brown alligator strap; and a rose-gold edition with a black dial and nine-row gold bracelet. The capsule editions feature a velvet teal colorway on the dial and a miniature painting on the caseback replicating one of De Lempicka’s beloved Art Deco portraits, 15 in all, limited to five pieces each. 

The Old: While the Disco Mini is technically a new collection for Universal Genève rather than a revival of an existing one, the brand has drawn from both the mid-20th-Century “Disco Volante” style (aka “flying saucer”) of watches and its own history of making glamorous ladies watches that offer versatility in wardrobing. Universal earned recognition in 1965 at the Diamonds International Awards for its diamond-centered watch designs, and earlier, in the 1950s, the maison had been one of the first to introduce watch straps designed to be interchangeable, making it easier for ladies navigating the postwar social scene to adapt their wristwear to the occasion. 

The New: The two core releases of the Disco Mini are both in precious metal, with dainty, sleekly rounded, lugless 28mm cases mounted on bangle bracelets. Both feature high-grade mother-of-pearl dials with miniature hands, and a crown hidden into the side of the case to preserve the silhouette of the “flying saucer” case. The company’s multiband strap concept from the ‘50s inspires the clip system for the bangle bracelet that enables easy switching between it and any number of vibrantly colored leather and tweed straps, many of them handcrafted in the workshop of renowned French ribbon maker Julien Faure.

The rose-gold version of the Disco Mini features a Clous de Paris engraved bezel while the white-gold edition has a pave diamond-set bezel. Both come mounted on flexible, interchangeable bangle bracelets inspired by examples from the 1940s, which can be swapped with an alligator leather strap, in dark brown for the rose-gold watch and “blueberry purple” for the white-gold. Like the rest of the relaunched collections, the Disco Mini will be available in capsule editions, the first one being the Disco Mini Lace, a 32mm white gold watch with a vintage diamond-set bezel in a breathtaking floral design and a light blue mother-of-pearl dial. 

While these collections represent (for now) the core pillars of the reborn Universal Genève, the brand isn't stopping there. It has also launched a series of "Couture" pieces that reinterpret the existing models in exclusive, high-jewelry iterations, and a handful of "Signature" editions that are time-limited re-editions of cult-classic watches from the brand's history that have yet to be revived as full collections — likely a glimpse at Universal Genève's future as it moves toward more milestones in the 21st Century. You can learn more at universalgeneve.com