The Effect Of Gerald Genta

The Royal Oak was a marine-themed luxury lifestyle watch inspired by Genta’s lifelong fascination with boats. What made boat design interesting to a generation of European-educated creatives such as Genta was their dual focus on utility and aesthetics. To be successful as a trophy boat, a vessel needed to not only exhibit elegant beauty in its design and materials but also needed to be engineered to perform as a craft to cross waters and protect lives. It follows, then, that the ethos of boat design in the mid-20th century would naturally inspire timepiece creators and the watches of the era. This was especially true in the 1960s and 1970s when a watch with wrist appeal and water resistance was what most consumers seemed to want. Boat and yacht aesthetic inspiration in watches continues strong even today... More here.

Brilliant article, well worth a read.