Luigi Macaluso, also known as ''Gino'' (

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

, 9 June 1948 –

La Chaux-de-Fonds La Chaux-de-Fonds (; archaic ) is a Swiss city in the canton of Neuchâtel. It is located in the Jura Mountains at an altitude of 992 metres, a few kilometres south of the French border. After Geneva, Lausanne, Biel/Bienne, and Fribourg, ...

, 27 October 2010) was an Italian rally

navigator A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation.Grierson, MikeAviation History—Demise of the Flight Navigator FrancoFlyers.org website, October 14, 2008. Retrieved August 31, 2014. The navigator's prim ...

and manager. Together with

Raffaele Pinto Raffaele "Lele" Pinto (13 April 1945 – 8 December 2020) was a rallying, rally driver, who won the 1974 Rally Portugal. Career Pinto began rallying in 1968. In 1972, he won the European Rally Championship in a Fiat 124 Sport Spider. The followin ...

, he won the

European Rally Championship The European Rally Championship (officially FIA European Rally Championship) is an rallying, automobile rally competition held annually on the European continent and organized by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The champion ...

in 1972 and the Italian Rally Championship with Maurizio Verini in 1974. He was then the chairman and CEO of the Sowind group, under whose roof

Girard-Perregaux Girard-Perregaux SA () is a luxury Swiss watch ''manufacture'' with its origins dating back to 1791. In 2022, then-owner French luxury group Kering sold its stake in Sowind Group SA, the parent company of Girard-Perregaux, via management buyout ...

, the watchmaker GP Manufacture and JeanRichard were united. Under his leadership, the Sowind group relaunched the historic watchmaking house with big investments in technology and design. In particular, the historic Manufacture of

, one of the last in the world, today boasts 110 haute horlogerie movements and 80 patents.

Career

Graduated in architecture at the

University of Turin The University of Turin (Italian language, Italian: ''Università degli Studi di Torino'', UNITO) is a public university, public research university in the city of Turin, in the Piedmont (Italy), Piedmont region of Italy. It is one of the List ...

in 1975, Gino Macaluso began his long career in the world of watchmaking in Italy, joining the Italian distributor company of SSIH, now the

Swatch Group The Swatch Group Ltd is a Swiss manufacturer of watches and jewellery. The company was founded in 1983 through the merger of ASUAG and SSIH, moving to manufacturing quartz-crystal watches to resolve the quartz crisis threatening the tradition ...

. In 1982, in Turin, he founded Tradema, one of the largest watch distribution companies in Italy which includes the

Blancpain Blancpain SA () is a Swiss luxury watch manufacturer, headquartered in Paudex/Le Brassus, Switzerland. It designs, manufactures, distributes, and sells prestige and luxury mechanical watches. Founded by Jehan-Jacques Blancpain in Villeret, Swit ...

, Breitling and

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

brands. In 1987 he became the official agent of Girard-Perregaux for the Italian market and, in 1989, he joined the Manufacturing board of directors. On 15 September 1992, he assumed the presidency of the Sowind Group. He personally designed, in collaboration with the internal Design Center, the models for the new collections, enhancing the Italian style in the world. The only Italian entrepreneur to be considered among the most authoritative in the international watch and luxury watch market, in 1998 he received the Gaïa Prize for the Esprit d'Entreprise, the most prestigious recognition in the Swiss watch world, awarded since 1993 by the

Musée International d'Horlogerie The International Museum of Horology, , is a horological museum in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. It is owned and operated by the city of La Chaux-de-Fonds. History In 1865 the Watchmaking School of La Chaux-de-Fonds had the idea of putting ...

to those personalities who made watchmaking and its art known through their activities. In spring 2009, after the strategic agreement with the

Kering Kering S.A. () is a French multinational holding company specializing in luxury goods, headquartered in Paris. It owns the brands Yves Saint Laurent, Gucci, Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta, Creed, Maui Jim, and Alexander McQueen. The timber-tradin ...

Group, which belongs to the French businessman Francois-Henri Pinault, he joined the

Gucci Guccio Gucci S.p.A., doing business as Gucci ( , ), is an Italian Luxury goods, luxury fashion house based in Florence. Its product lines include handbags, ready-to-wear, footwear, accessories, and home decoration; and it licenses its name and ...

Group Management Committee with responsibility for the watch and jewelry sector and the Conseil de Surveillance of

Boucheron Boucheron () is a French luxury jewelry and watch house located in Paris, 26 Place Vendôme, owned by Kering. Hélène Poulit-Duquesne has been CEO since 2015 and Claire Choisne creative director since 2011. History At the origins The House ...

, one of the greatest jewelers in the world. He was nominated three times – in 1999, 2001 and 2004 – president of the Association Interprofessionelle de la Haute Horologerie (AIHH). He was vice-president of the Italian-Swiss Chamber of Commerce in

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

and advisor in the Chamber of Commerce of

Neuchâtel Neuchâtel (, ; ; ) is a list of towns in Switzerland, town, a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality, and the capital (political), capital of the cantons of Switzerland, Swiss canton of Neuchâtel (canton), Neuchâtel on Lake Neuchâtel ...

. He was one of the three founding members of the Haute Horlogerie Foundation and of the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

, where in 2008 he presented a preview of the " Constant Escapement", a new constant-force escapement, revolutionary for the technology, the design and the materials used (silicon). Promoter of training initiatives with Swiss universities, he has engaged with the

Canton of Neuchâtel The Republic and Canton of Neuchâtel (; ; ; ) is a mostly French-speaking canton in western Switzerland. In 2007, its population was 169,782, of whom 39,654 (or 23.4%) were foreigners. The capital is Neuchâtel. History County of Neuchâtel ...

in a project for the establishment of new university and post-university courses for haute horlogerie.

Passion for motorsport

Official navigator of the

Fiat Fiat Automobiles S.p.A., commonly known as simply Fiat ( , ; ), is an Italian automobile manufacturer. It became a part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in 2014 and, in 2021, became a subsidiary of Stellantis through its Italian division, Stellant ...

rally team, in 1972 he won the European rally championship and the

Mitropa Cup The Mitropa Cup, officially called Coupe de l'Europe Centrale, Mitteleuropäischer Pokal or Central European Cup, was one of the first international major European association football, football cups for club sides. It was conducted among the suc ...

paired with Emanuele Pinto on the Fiat 124 Spider and in 1974 the Italian Rally Championship together with Maurizio Verini on the Fiat 124 Abarth. In 1987 he joined Club Italia, a non-profit cultural sports association, established to enhance the historical heritage of the Italian classic car, of which he has been president for almost two decades. In 1997 he joined the ACI-CSAI (Automobile Club of Italy-Italian Automobile Sports Commission); in 2001 he was elected president: he will be honorary president until his death. While he was dedicating himself to promoting the cultural, social, aesthetic and historical values of the automobile, he decided to restore rally cars dating back to the golden age of the specialty: from here began a collection that is still today one among the most relevant in this sector. In 2000 he founded a team that aimed to compete in the Junior World Championship with Italian colors: the R&D Motorsport, which brought Andrea Dallavilla driving a Fiat Punto Rally Super 1600 to win the title of second world champion in the season 2001 of the JWRC. In 2005, Gino Macaluso was elected President of the International Karting Commission, organ of the International Automobile Federation ( FIA), and became the representative of Italy on the World Council of the same.

Fondazione Gino Macaluso per l'Auto Storica

In 2018, Gino Macaluso's family established a foundation that bears his name. Its purpose is to make Gino's dream come true: he considered the car "the most intense expression of creativity of the twentieth century". For this purpose and thanks to the collection that belonged to Gino, the foundation organizes, promotes and participates in events, competitions, rallies, exhibitions, fairs, seminars, conferences, workshops related to historic cars, motorsport and its protagonists. At the same time, it promotes studies, restorations and publications about historic cars.

Distinctions

In 2008, Gino Macaluso was appointed a Grand Officer of the

Order of Merit of the Italian Republic The Order of Merit of the Italian Republic () is the most senior Italian order of merit. It was established in 1951 by the second President of Italy, President of the Italian Republic, Luigi Einaudi. The highest-ranking honour of the Republi ...

. In 2009, he was appointed a Knight of the

Order of Merit for Labour The Order of Merit for Labour () is an Italian order of chivalry that was founded in 1923 by King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, Vittorio Emanuele III. It is awarded to those "who have been singularly meritorious" in agriculture, industry and co ...

References

External links

* http://www.girard-perregaux.com Website of Girard-Perregaux * http://www.worldtempus.com Website of Worldtempus * http://www.fia.com Website of the FIA (Federation Internationale de l'Automobile) {{DEFAULTSORT:Macaluso, Luigi 1948 births 2010 deaths Racing drivers from Turin Italian businesspeople Italian rally co-drivers Recipients of the Order of Merit for Labour Grand Officers of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic Car collectors