Personal travel impressions in stories and pictures from Swiss watches, Geneva, Switzerland. Click on the pictures to enlarge, send as a free e-card, or download for personal use. You can locate Swiss watches and navigate the world using Google Earth
The name and fame of Swiss watches is so wide spread that a Swiss watch is equal to punctuality in some languages. Although the output of the Swiss watch industry has been overtaken by the Far East who focus more on mass products, Swiss watches are still a proof of craftmanship and precision, and are a delight to look at. While most watches will actually be too pricey for many of us, it is a pleasure to walk around in the area of Geneva where all well-known manufacturers are represented.
So I cycled to the old part of Geneva and parked the bike and started walking down the Rue du Rhone - named after the river that, close by, runs down the Lac Leman, better known as Lake Geneva. Right away, I passed one watch shop after the other. Gold, silver, transparent, with diamonds and even fur, large and tiny: I saw watches in all appearances. Sometimes a window had lots of watches on display, but other times an entire window was dedicated to just one masterpiece. Some watches were absolutely horrendous to my taste, but others looked very attractive and true pieces of jewellery. They were all on display in windows that were made very attractive by their owners, in which the watches were often presented as true jewels and pride, in what sometimes looked like an artistic environment.
Actually, that is how the watch industry was born in Geneva. In the 16th century, reforms by Calvin banned the use of jewellery, forcing jewellers to look for a new way to make a living. Their new product would be watches, and the watchmakers of Geneva had already established a reputable name. Logically, when Geneva became too full for them, some moved to further north to the Jura area where they further developed the art of watchmaking and the fame of the Swiss watch industry. It was in the 20th century, when an international market developed for watches, that the Swiss industry reached world dominance, producing both the smallest, as well as the most expensive, and thinnest watch.
