INTERVIEW
The intricacies of why you pay so much for a Bentley
Designer describes the thinking and craftsmanship that goes into a Continental GT
Côtes de Genève is an intricate scratch pattern created by a rose engine lathe on a luxury watch movement. While it has a decorative property, it is also about practicality because it features the tiniest of overlaps in order to catch dust and prevent it getting into the movement itself. What does this have to do with cars? It’s a finish loved by Bentley’s head of interior design, Darren Day, and it’s available in the latest Continental GT. I met Day at the Bentley head office in Crewe, England recently — interestingly, the day before some think is the true anniversary of Bentley, January 10. It was on that day in 1919 that WO Bentley started the company, but there were early issues and he let it go dormant until July 1919 when he restarted it and, the rest, as they say, is history. I asked Day, if he could put something into the first Bentley he was involved in, the Continental T that is available today, what would it be? The answer: a Côtes de Genève finish. Even today, it took so...
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