Gerald Genta Arena Bi-Retrograde Mickey Mouse

Photo: Monochrome

Designer of watches from Switzerland, Gérald Genta, has always been a pioneer. The guy who single-handedly invented the Royal Oak and the Nautilus, launching the most sought-after luxury sporting timepiece category, also saw a market opportunity for pieces based on pop culture themes. When Genta decided to launch his watch line, he let loose his more humorous side. Hence, he created a line of manual watches featuring Mickey Mouse and other Disney figures on the dial.

Mickey Mouse is returning for another round but kicking a soccer ball this time. This is after the sold-out show of the Gérald Genta Arena Retrograde Smiling Mickey launched by Bulgari in 2021. The Arena Bi-Retrograde Mickey Mouse is a unique triple-complexity edition featuring retrograde minutes, dates, and leaping hours. It is only available to 200 enthusiasts of football, Genta, and Mickey Mouse.

Photo: Monochrome

Gérald and Mickey Encounter

It’s possible that Gérald Genta wasn’t the first jeweler to use a Disney figure. However, he was undoubtedly the founder of the most expensive watch company to do so. In 1928, Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks came up with the idea for Mickey Mouse, the friendly Disney mascot that sports red shorts, huge yellow boots, white gloves, plus a falsetto tone.

Ingersoll introduced the iconic mouse on its dial for the first time in 1933 for wristwatches and pocket watches. Genta’s inaugural character timepieces were contained in Arena casings modeled after the design of old Roman arenas. They appeared in his Fantasy collection when he entered a partnership with the Walt Disney Company in 1980.

As we all know, Bulgari purchased Gérald Genta in 2000. The addition of minute and great complexities to the craftsmanship lexicon of the renowned Roman label Bulgari was made possible by purchasing such a high-end Swiss company. Leaping hours and reversing minutes were combined in one movement and displayed on a similar dial for the first time with Genta’s Retrograde 1996 complexity. Bulgari brought it back with the platinum Arena Bi-Retro in 2019, featuring jumping hours and bi-retrograde minutes, with a more modern setting in 2020.

Photo: Monochrome

Technical Features

The sleek, circular bezel, straight lugs, flute caseband, and crown protectors on the 41-millimeter stainless steel Arena casing assure the watch’s 100 meters of waterproofing. The surprise for 2022 is that the amiable mouse is actually playing football, which was likely scheduled to correspond with the World Cup. As Bulgari notes, Genta’s Mickey Mouse is not a novice to sports; in earlier incarnations, he was a competitive golfer and race car driver.

Mickey Mouse is displayed in the center of the dial. His left leg is elevated, and he appears to be about to kick the ball in the air with a bicycle kick. Likewise, his right, white-gloved hand tracking the reverse minute’s arc is over his head. The black nose also lines up with the round leaping hour aperture at ten o’clock, and the yellow shoe encroaches on the lower backward arc for the date.

The dial is made from naturally luminescent mother-of-pearl, in contrast to the previous year’s model. With a pad printing method, the mouse, as well as the football, are constructed from 14 plates. Some parts of the Disney character are covered in clear lacquer to enhance sparkle and volume. To make Mickey Mouse come to life, over 20 mechanical procedures were required.

The 210-degree reversing minutes tracker over Mickey’s head and the 180 ° retrograde date beneath are both red and engraved to stick out from the white mother-of-pearl setting. They also complement the color of Mickey’s pants. You’ll as well see that the index is open-worked, and the portion of the date line that corresponds with Mickey’s short is white for visibility. Furthermore, the watch has a refined stainless steel foldable clasp plus a red textured rubber band.

Photo: Watchlounge

When the wristwatch is turned over, the display caseback, held in place by 6 pentagonal bolts, reveals movement details, including a rotor adorned with the GG monogram and Geneva lines. The Bulgari BVL 300 in-house mechanical movement featuring an in-built module attached for the leaping and bi-retrograde indicators serves as the foundation for the movement. When completely wound, it has a power reserve that lasts 42 hours while beating at 4Hz. 

It may not appear to have a lot of power. Nevertheless, it’s astounding given the enormous quantity of energy that must be stored to make the hours leap and the minutes and date jump back. On the other hand, a controller at nine o’clock on the case band enables quick time correction.