Universal Genève White Shadow

You’re looking at one of Gérald Genta’s first notable watch designs.  That’s right — before he put pen to paper and created the Royal Oak for Audemars Piguet and the Nautilus for Patek Philippe, the young Swiss designer made the White Shadow for Universal Genève. Elegant and comfortable, it’s one of the more interesting vintage dress watch designs both from an aesthetic and a technical perspective. Thanks to its record-breaking, slim automatic movement, the White Shadow is a supremely comfortable watch. The cushion shaped case is impressively thin, but it’s also wide enough to feel substantial. UG produced this model in several configurations, but this particular example has to be one of the handsomest we’ve seen. Dating to the 1970s, it features a 35mm stainless steel case with an acrylic crystal, a signed crown, a matching stainless steel bracelet with a signed clasp, and a glossy white dial with beautiful printed black 'Roman' indices and a matching black stick handset. What’s more, it’s powered by the Universal Genève Cal. 2-66 automatic movement with micro-rotor. There are lots of great affordable dress watches out there, but few can match the White Shadow’s pedigree.  It’s elegant, innovative and unusual — quite the combination!