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The founder of the Gevril brand is Jacques Gevril, a Swiss clockmaker from the 1700’s. On a trip to Spain, Gevril got his biggest break after showing King Ferdinand a selection of pocket watches. The King was so impressed by the craftsmanship of each piece that he bought everything Gevril had.
From this point onwards, the Gevril brand produced pocket watches for both the royalty and aristocracy of mainland Europe up until the demise of pocket watches and the quartz crisis. As Gevril was such a traditional brand, it had a hard time adapting to the changes in the watch world and was somewhat left behind, even when compared to other Swiss brands that struggled during this period.
The Gevril brand was truly revived in 2001 when a Swiss businessman acquired the trademark and intellectual property of the company. Since then, Gevril have been on a path to regain their foothold in the upper echelons of Swiss watchmaking. As Gevril is still a fairly exclusive and luxury watchmaker, they only produce 6000 watches per year.
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Is Gevril A Luxury Watch Brand?
Although it is not a particularly well known company to the general population, Gevril is certainly a luxury watch brand that is priced at a similar level to the likes of Tag Heuer.
As Gevril watches start at around $800 and go all the way up to 5 figure sums, they are priced exactly as you would expect a luxury watchmaker to be. Mentioned below, Gevril also used solid Swiss mechanical movements, which is another good sign that they are a luxury watch brand. This is confirmed by the materials used for Gevril watch cases. Whilst most of their pieces use stainless steel, it is possible to buy Gevril watches made of 18k gold.
Are Gevril Watches Good Quality?
Gevril watches are of good quality and can be compared to other entry-level luxury brands. Their higher-end watches can also be compared with other companies who make watches using either in-house or proprietary movements.
In short, Gevril is a solid watchmaking brand that has nowhere near the customer base, nor advertising budget when compared with the big companies such as Audemars Piguet or Patek Philippe. Whilst Gevril watches are not quite up to this standard, they are certainly a very respectable, yet unknown Swiss brand.
What Movements Do Gevril Use?
Gevril are unusual since they are a Swiss brand that does not use one specific movement across the board. Depending on each watch, the company which makes the Gevril movement differs. As expected, the higher the cost and specification of the watch, the better quality movement Gevril uses.
Therefore, in the budget and lower end Gevril watches, many of the movements are Ruben & Sons. Not too much is known about this brand since they do not have a website. Of the little that is known of Ruben & Sons, they are a Swiss movement manufacturer which has made Swiss clones of various Miyota movements. Some Gevril watches also use standard and classical ETA movements such as the 2824. It’s needless to say that ETA movements are both accurate and reliable.
In the higher end watches, Gevril tends to stick with Agenhor. The vast majority of people have not heard of Agenhor, even if they are interested in watches. This is because when compared to the likes of ETA and Sellita, Agenhor is tiny. They have however provided proprietary movements for both Faberge and Harry Winston.
The Best Gevril Watches
Gevril Wall Street
At first glance, this is yet another dive watch in the style of a black Rolex submariner. There are however a few distinct differences between the Gevril Wall Street model and a Rolex homage watch.
Firstly the case size chosen is 43mm, some 3mm larger than the submariner. However, even though the dial is slightly larger, this does feel a lot more slimmed down since the lugs are not overly exposed and are much more streamlined.
Secondly, a jubilee style stainless steel bracelet is used which gives the watch a much more vintage feel overall.
As the Wall Street uses an ETA 2824 movement, it is very accurate and reliable. This is by no means a high end luxury movement but is certainly good enough for the price and other specifications.
GV2 Scuderia Chronograph
Quite obviously a motor racing style watch, the GV2 Scuderia chronograph is one of the cheapest watches that Gevril makes. The reason for this is simply that it uses a Swiss quartz movement rather than an automatic, which will heavily increase the price of a chronograph watch due to its complexity.
The dial layout of the GV2 Scuderia is fairly common and is what you would expect from a racing chronograph. Of course, the same can be said for the chronograph pushers on the side of the watch, one of which is red to make it look more like a traditional stopwatch.
All in all, the price of this watch is certainly not bad considering it is made by a brand such as Gevril. It uses a quartz movement but is well priced even when this is factored in.
Gevril Colombus Circle
Clearly an original design, the Gevril Columbus Circle has a very interesting dial layout to say the least. As the dial has a lot of information, it makes sense that the watch has a 45mm case size. Whilst they may be oversized for some, this watch would not be possible without such a large space.
The day-date functions around the center of the dial can be somewhat difficult to understand since nothing is covered by artwork. However, once you start wearing the watch regularly your brain will understand to simply ignore all of the noise and focus on the date window at the 12 o’clock position.
Perhaps the most interesting feature of this watch is the case back. This is a very unique design with a small exhibition window rather than the entire caseback. This certainly won’t be for everyone, but it does give the watch something extra to make it stand out against other models.
Gevril Seacloud Automatic
A fashionable yet solid dive watch that is made to a good specification. The Gevril Seacloud is clearly a piece that is designed to attract attention, yet remain somewhat subtle with its black and silver color scheme.
Overall, the watch is made very well, having 200 meters water resistance and using a sapphire crystal to protect the dia. It does wear a little large since it has a 45mm case size, but this is not all too uncommon for a divers watch.
The movement used in the Seacloud automatic is an MDD3G made by Ruben & Sons. Therefore not too much is known about the accuracy or reliability of this movement, other than that it is a Swiss clone of a Miyota 9015. It’s likely that the average buyer would have preferred an ETA 2824 in a watch costing over $600.
Ladies GV2 Florence
The GV2 Florence is a modern timepiece with a traditional look about it. Using traditional features such as a cabochon and a gold plated case, this is a style that has been popular for at least the past 40 years with brands such as Cartier being very well known for this design.
The mother of pearl dial contrasts very well with the watch case and has various useful functions, as well as a moonphase indicator which adds a nice bit of color to the bottom half of the watch.
As expected, this watch uses a Swiss quartz movement, since using a mechanical variation of this can become extremely expensive to both buy and have serviced.
