Introducing the Gerald Genta Arena Bi-Retrograde Mickey Mouse

While the late Gerald Genta is best known for the duo of watches we speak of everyday, the actual number of his designs is far greater – some 100,000 by his own account – including obscurities such as Seiko Credor Locomotive and Rolex King Midas. He also produced a thrilling variety of watches under his eponymous brand, spanning from the Grande Sonnerie, the world’s most complicated wristwatch when it was completed in 1994, to the utterly whimsical Retro Fantasy watches, featuring everything from Alice in Wonderland to Pink Panther and most famously, Mickey Mouse. These less serious watches were conversely the most horologically substantial to ever bear the Disney name.

Genta began his series of Mickey Mouse watches in the 1980s, which also included the rest of the clan such as Minnie, Donald and Goofy. Then in the 1990s, he started implementing a retrograde mechanism such that Mickey points out the minutes with his retrograde gloved hand. The famous mouse could also be found engaging in all sorts of sports such as motor racing, sailing, though he appears to specialize in golf. In 1996, Genta sold his company to The Hour Glass, and in 2000 it was acquired by Bulgari.

Last year Bulgari revealed that it was on a mission to revive the Gerald Genta brand. Along with the launch of a dedicated website, Bulgari also recreated the Retro Fantasy Mickey Mouse with an Arena case, characterized by a convex bezel, fluted flanks and crown guards that extend ever so slightly from the case. The brand has just unveiled a second Mickey Mouse watch, this time with a double-retrograde mechanism and a sports-themed Mickey, about to strike a soccer ball, on a mother-of-pearl dial.