As a tribute to the Asian market, Gerald Charles has introduced the Maestro 2.0 Ultra-Thin Asia Edition. A limited edition of just 80 pieces worldwide, the timepiece celebrates the brand’s growing presence in the region while showcasing one of the most challenging materials used in modern watchmaking – jade.

Within Gerald Charles’ distinctive Maestro design, the dial is crafted from one of Asia’s most culturally significant stones. Revered across the continent for centuries, jade is traditionally associated with prosperity, harmony, protection, and virtue, and has long been regarded as a material of immense value. Gerald Charles selected a particularly prized variety of jade known for its vivid green colour, natural depth, and unique character. While stone dials are not new to watchmaking, creating a jade dial for the Maestro case presented a significant technical challenge. Jade is harder and more brittle than many decorative stones commonly used in watchmaking, making it extremely difficult to machine without cracking.

For this Asia Edition watch, each dial begins as a rough jade stone that is gradually cut, milled, and shaped to fit the Maestro’s unique geometry. The final dial measures just 0.4 mm thick, which is a remarkable achievement considering the stone’s fragility. The manufacturing process requires slow machining speeds, extremely tight tolerances, and specially designed supports to eliminate vibrations that could damage the material.

Though the complexity of the process results in a high rejection rate, it also ensures that every finished dial is unique. Each watch has its own character and appearance, as the natural veins, inclusions, and tonal variations differ from piece to piece. The brand also adopted a minimalist approach to place full focus on the jade dial. The surface is left free of indexes and numerals, with only the brand logo and “Swiss Made” text printed in black. The hands are baton-shaped and polished in a silver finish, with the hour and minute hands filled with white Super-LumiNova featuring green C7 luminescence for visibility in low-light conditions.

To complement the vivid green dial, the watch is paired with a contrasting white rubber strap adorned with the Clous de Paris motif. The stainless-steel case measures 39 mm × 41 mm and consists of 35 individual operations. It features polished surfaces, a vertically brushed caseback, and a screw-down crown decorated with a Clous de Paris finish and embossed logo. Despite its slim profile, the watch is designed for everyday wear. The case measures only 9 mm thick and offers water resistance to 100 metres, while the brand’s ErgonTeq architecture is intended to enhance comfort on the wrist.

Powering the watch is the automatic in-house Calibre GCA2000. The movement operates at a frequency of 28,800 vibrations per hour (4 Hz) and provides a power reserve of about 50 hours. The calibre features central hours, minutes, and seconds displays and is engineered to withstand shocks of up to 5G. It is finished with Côtes de Genève, perlage, and colimaçon decoration, along with yellow-gold-coloured engravings. The movement is fitted with a gold-toned central oscillating weight decorated with Gerald Charles’ signature honeycomb motif and a combination of sandblasted, soleil-brushed, and colimaçon finishes.

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The Gerald Charles Maestro 2.0 Ultra-Thin Asia Edition is priced at approximately INR 22,00,000.

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Images: Courtesy Gerald Charles