A Watch Aficionado’s Guide to Geneva Part 1 – Watch Shopping in Geneva

I can only imagine how difficult it must sometimes be to be the partner of a watch enthusiast. Never being able to pass a jewellery shop without stopping to look at the displays, a ‘quick look’ in a boutique translates into at least half an hour, several watches being tried on and considered conversation about the merits of each given piece, and of course hearing about every finer detail and why it is important.

However, when your partner surprises you with a birthday visit to go watch shopping in Geneva – watch capital of the world – I think it is safe to say she knew what she was letting herself in for! Either that, or finally my passion for watches is rubbing off… regardless, last weekend saw our first visit to Geneva, with three out of the four days dedicated to exploring the world of horology (I think one day of ‘normal tourism’ seems fair!)

Arriving in Geneva, it was clear from the first moment that we had arrived in my idea of heaven. Before we even got off the plane, I noticed a Breguet Type XX on the wrist of a fellow passenger returning home, and before long was bombarded with watch advertisement after watch advertisement walking through the terminal. Perhaps unsurprising given where we were, however, it certainly served to whet my appetite!

After checking into our hotel, we ventured towards Geneva’s famous L’Horloge Fleurie in the Jardin Anglais and the Jet d’Eau, before turning back to begin a day watch shopping on the Rue du Rhône. Suffice it to say, by the end of the day, we (note: “we”!) were not disappointed!

Watch Shopping in Geneva on the Rue de Rhône

The first boutique we visited was Vacheron Constantin. I am a huge fan of Vacheron Constantin and their rich history. The attendant in the boutique could not have been nicer, and showed us several models from the Patrimony collection, culminating in a limited 1-of-10-pieces platinum minute repeater model. Now, I love a minute repeater – the complication fascinates me. A minute repeater will never fail to amaze me each and every time I am lucky enough to get my hands on one.

Yet still, with a 1.5 foot tall scaled model of the calibre 1731 on our table, the complexity of this complication became even more in-your-face; after the attendant explained some of the component parts and how the complication works, a glance back down to my wrist served to really drill home the absolute mastery of the watchmakers in creating such a timepiece – it looked complicated enough in a 1.5 foot model, let alone within a 41mm timepiece.

Following from Vacheron Constantin, we visited 2 boutiques that were very much on my radar for this visit – F.P. Journe and the MB&F MAD Gallery. Fortunately, F.P. Journe is essentially next door so we did not have far to go, and before long we were sat in the boutique learning about the brand and the man behind it from another wonderful attendant.

I tried two stunning mechanical timepieces on from the Souveraine and Octa collections, before witnessing something which blew my mind in the Élégante collection; this collection is distinctive in its tonneau shape, but also as it is not a mechanical collection, but electromechanical. Like a mechanical watch, if you put it down and it remains still, after a while (albeit a much shorter while!) the Élégante will stop.

However, whilst the hands may not move, the microprocessor inside continues to keep the time. Once the timepiece is picked up, the component visible at 4 o’clock detects the movement of the watch, and the hands (hours, minutes, and seconds) all return themselves to showing the correct time – incredible to see!

The next location we visited was the MB&F MAD Gallery. MB&F is a brand that I have long admired, although rarely something I have been able to see and enjoy up close. Max Büsser is an immensely talented watch designer, and joined by his many friends (MB&F – Max Büsser & Friends) the pieces created by this group are extraordinary.

Not just the timepieces either, but within the MAD Gallery are wonderfully different clocks, and pieces of art of image and mechanically based which showcase the playful nature of what this brand is. The attendant again was brilliant, showing us not only the watches, but each piece of art and what it can do, with some incredible surprises packed into them! Aside from the stunning watches, my favourite was a relatively small tortoise; “What does this do?” I asked. The answer was certainly not what I was expecting – without spoiling the video below (make sure you have your sound on), the entire thing is 100% mechanical with zero electronics, right down to the sounds which are made through mechanically expanding and contracting tiny little bellows.

Simply put, an unbelievable piece of engineering. All things considered, the MAD Gallery was one of the highlights of this trip for me (and my partner!), where the incredible and unique watches are only a part of the experience which is further enhanced by everything else on show and is a must-visit when watch shopping in Geneva!

Over the course of the first day watch shopping in Geneva we visited many other boutiques including Rolex and Tudor, Patek Philippe, Hublot, TAG Heuer and Blancpain, but the two final boutiques were quite the finale pair! Firstly, Roger Dubuis.

Now, if you are familiar with the Watch Affinity story on our homepage, you’ll know that a visit to Roger Dubuis in Harrods serve to inspire the idea for this very website, and so it is a brand close to my heart for this reason. I loved discovering this brand and their skeletal timepieces, and to this day I hold the same admiration for them.

Fortunately for me, the attendant in the boutique detected this and somewhat spoiled me; not only was he willing to let me try on several amazing timepieces, but by chance they happened to have a Knights of the Round Table IV in store, too! The Knights of the Round Table II is the model which inspired Watch Affinity, so it was in a sense quite a poetic symmetry for me to encounter the latest model of the same family on my first visit to Geneva.

Not only that, but soon after this, number 1 of a limited 8-piece Quatuor was adorning my wrist. Watching this incredible calibre of almost 600 components, which takes around 2400 hours to assemble, spring into life as I wound it with one balance wheel after the other starting in sequence, was quite something to behold.

One our way back to the hotel after a day of watch shopping on the Rue de Rhône, one of those common things which must be the bugbear of every partner of a watch lover happened. We passed a boutique and I happened to notice a particular brand on the sign outside which clearly warranted a quick look. Of course, this quick look translated into comfortably over half an hour, several watches being tried on and considered conversation about the merits of each given piece, and of course hearing about every finer detail and why it is important. Déjà-vu?

So, which brand was it that caught my attention? Laurent Ferrier – a brand I knew was special, yet not one which I knew a great deal about. I knew Laurent Ferrier was a master watchmaker, but what I didn’t appreciate was that he was a master watchmaker at Patek Philippe and even their technical director before starting the Laurent Ferrier brand in 2010. I knew he was a racing driver, too, but what I didn’t appreciate was that he was a semi-professional racing driver who finished third in the 1979 Le Mans race, behind none other than Paul Newman.

This store warrants a specific mention as it doesn’t feature on the map below as it was half-way on our walk back to the hotel from the Rue du Rhône – and that store is Montres Prestige, an Audemars Piguet boutique on the Quai du Mont-Blanc by the Bains des Pâquis.

The attendant walked me through four different Laurent Ferrier timepieces and a little about their stories, and I was fortunate enough to be able to try them all. He explained how, as a client of Laurent Ferrier, he could even arrange for you to visit the man himself at his manufacture and discuss in person what you are looking for in a timepiece, perhaps even over dinner! Imagine that: being able to discuss in person, with an absolute watchmaking master, what you are looking for in a timepiece for it to then be made, by hand, especially for you. Quite something.

I think you’ll agree, not bad for day one!

The next morning, for a change of pace, we decided to visit the Patek Philippe Museum. This is an absolute must for any enthusiast of horology, with their three-floor collection displaying some of the most incredible and important pieces of horological history together in one place. The top floor shows off the archives of Patek Philippe and a series of fine examples of enamelling from the 1700-1800s, and even some of the medals won by the original proprietors of the manufacture.

For me, the highlight was the middle floor, which houses some incredible clocks, including some made by the hand of the legendary Abraham-Louis Breguet himself. Admiring these stunning pieces from all angles was quite incredible, and one particular moment sticks in my mind: knowing a little about Breguet, I was aware that he used to hide a ‘secret signature’ into his enamel work, something that the brand still does today.

Curiosity got the better of me, and so I started to take a much closer look at one, slightly larger, enamelled timepiece crafted by Breguet according to the description. Sure enough, when the light caught the dial in the right way, there it was – a secret Breguet signature cast by the man himself! I will admit I had a little moment right then, as the only person around this timepiece with nobody else nearby, I had found something quite special and significant which was not mentioned in the description of the exhibit, that I imagine perhaps only a relatively small percentage of visitors would have found!

Finally, the bottom floor housed just about every conceivable reference of Patek Philippe timepieces from their history, from pocket watches, through all the wristwatch collections, right up to the grand complications. It was a truly marvellous collection, and I would highly recommend the museum to everybody to visit as it is a couple of hours incredibly well spent. Unfortunately, you aren’t allowed to take photos in the museum, so I don’t have any to share here.

After lunch, we made our way back for more watch shopping on the Rue de Rhône, exploring some more boutiques, starting with Audemars Piguet’s flagship boutique. We looked at a fair few watches in here, and the attendant spent some time explaining the detailing behind the new Code 11.59. The savoir-faire exhibited by Audemars Piguet in the crafting of this collection is utterly mind-blowing. She walked us through a scaled-up model of the Code 11.59 which broke into the main component parts, showing us every finer detail from the case design, the sapphire crystal, the movement itself, and even what goes into making each dial.

Audemars Piguet have set the bar very high with the Code 11.59, and the thought crossed my mind on numerous occasions as to whether the watch on my wrist would be worth three or four times the retail price of today in future, as per the Royal Oak. I guess only time will tell…!

After stopping by in a few other boutiques such as Franck Muller, Jaquet Droz, Breguet, and IWC Schaffhausen, we found our way to Les Ambassadeurs, a high-end watch shop stocking multiple brands, including a few independents that I wanted to check out up close including HYT, Urwerk and Greubel Forsey: each with a totally unique take on timepieces and incredible pieces of engineering.

Top tip: Les Ambassadeurs is a must-visit if ever you find yourself watch shopping in Geneva for sure.

Being able to explore these three stunning timepieces up close was a great opportunity, each timepiece resonating with me in a different way. With the HYT, I have always been in awe of the innovative way in which they tell time, with a mechanism with two bellows that push liquid around a tube, and the boundary between the two liquids of different colours indicating the time.

There is nothing quite like this anywhere else that I’ve seen, and to be able to inspect and admire the engineering that has gone into this up close was quite awesome. It is after all not every day that you admire a watch calibre with two hydraulic pumps! (The timepiece below is showing 40 minutes past 4)

I will be the first to admit that the first time I saw a photo of an Urwerk timepiece, it took me a few minutes to work out quite what the time was! However, once I understood the principles, it became clear just how creative that Urwerk had been with their display.

They are commonly known for their satellite hour complication (as seen on this timepiece) but have also been known to take on other complications such as the jumping hours or retrograde displays, and put their own twist on it, too (such as the UR-111C). When we were looking at the Urwerk, the attendant showed us just how the display evolves on the timepiece by winding it ahead so we could watch the indications move in quicker time – in doing this you can much better appreciate the intricacies of the movement and appreciate the thought that the brand have put in to how they can display the time and have some fun with it as well. (The timepiece below is showing 4 minutes past 3)

The final timepiece we looked at (at least in this half of the trip – keep an eye out for our next blog post!) was a case of saving one of the most impressive timepieces for last. With Greubel Forsey manufacturing less than 100 timepieces annually, they aren’t something you come across very often, and so when I spotted one in Les Ambassadeurs, I had to have a look up close.

Since I first learned of Greubel Forsey I have admired their quest to create new and different complications, and they have a series of inventions they have incorporated into their timepieces. This particular model featured their Double Tourbillon 30° – a “tourbillon-within-a-tourbillon” if you like, where inside a cage which rotates once every four minutes, is a second cage inclined at a 30° angle, which rotates once every 60 seconds.

This angle of incline and the different rotational speeds of the respective cages serve to further counter the effects of gravity beyond a single tourbillon complication, ensuring greater levels of precision. Every detail of this timepiece was one to be admired, the finishing was incredible, and I can only hope that in future I happen across many more timepieces from Greubel Forsey.

Not bad for day two, either!

Before heading to Geneva, one minor frustration I encountered was not being able to find a list or map of which boutiques were for me to explore, such that I could plan ahead. Now, there is a lot to be said for just taking a stroll around Geneva and visiting wherever takes your fancy, however for those a little more pushed for time this might not be the best approach. So, I put together a little map to help when watch shopping in Geneva, showing the locations of the boutiques and retailers that we encountered during our visit, in the hope that you might find it useful should you ever visit yourself:

Finally, as you may recall, this trip watch shopping in Geneva was for four days with three days dedicated to sating my horological appetite. So far in this post I have accounted for only two – keep your eyes peeled for our next post which will reveal a very special final day!

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You might also be interested in:

• A Watch Aficionado’s Guide to Geneva – Part 2
• The Watch Boutique Experience
• Introducing Watch Affinity Interactive Maps
• Our favourite watch experiences from 2019
• Watch Stationery and Gift Ideas
• Watch Books, Watch Boxes and more at the Watch Affinity Shop on Amazon (commissions earned)

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