The watch-lover's guide to Geneva —
Few things are as reliable -- or as archetypal -- as a luxury Swiss watch. Geneva is the birthplace and spiritual home of Swiss watchmaking and 24 hours in its streets reveals the horological styles and secrets that continue to make the city tick.The city has been intrinsically linked to watchmaking since the world's first watchmakers' corporation was born in 1601 as the "Maîtrise des horlogers de Genève".
Today it's home to the greatest concentration on the planet of mono-brand and multi-brand boutiques per square kilometre, in addition to scores of cultural institutions that celebrate the art of measuring time. Here's how to make the most of 24 hours in the city.
Take a Geneva watch tour —
Luxury watchmaking in Geneva began almost 500 years ago through an unusual and unexpected catalyst. In 1541 John Calvin, leader of the Swiss Protestant Reformation, banned the wearing of jewelry as ostentatious, meaning that shops could no longer display gold or diamonds and people could no longer wear them.Calvin however deemed the watch a "practical instrument", thereby allowing its production and sale. Step forward Italian and French watchmakers who happily worked with Geneva's jewelers to pass on their skills and knowledge. It's not a little ironic that one of the world's most luxurious and conspicuous accessories has a Puritanical purge to thank for its birth.
As you follow the routes of the Geneva watch walking tour, look and listen out for monuments to Calvin, illuminated watchmaking signs across the rooftops and the chimes of the Longines clock in the Passage Malbuisson.
Stay at the Mandarin Oriental's Luxury of Time Suite —
Geneva boasts an impressive thirteen five star hotels for a population of under half a million, but the Mandarin Oriental is especially well-placed to offer special insights for timepiece aficionados. They've partnered with Swiss luxury watchmaker Hublot to offer an exclusive package combining an overnight stay in one of the hotel's swish suites with a private visit and an exclusive Watch Academy workshop at the Hublot atelier. The Luxury of Time Suite includes a private limousine transfer from Geneva International Airport, champagne in suite with panoramic views over the city and mountains, before a scenic drive to nearby Nyon where a master Horloger welcomes guests to discover the traditions and latest technologies of fine watchmaking, as well as the secrets to assembling a Hublot watch.
Visit the Patek Philippe Museum —
Open to the public and for guided tours on request, the Patek Philippe Museum is the city's biggest with four floors exhibiting watchmaking and enamel collections over more than 500 years from Geneva, Switzerland and across Europe. Housed in a restored Art Deco building in Plainpalais, highlights include the earliest watch ever made, the Patek Philippe collection from 1839 onwards and the most complicated timepiece ever made, the Caliber 89. It weighs 1.1kg, has 24 hands and 1,728 components including a thermometer and a star chart. Made from 18 carat gold, it's worth an estimated US $6 million and took 4 years to manufacture.
Lunch at La Cité du Temps —
Located in the heart of the city in a landmark building dating from 1840, Geneva's Cité du Temps was restored to its former glory by the Swatch Group in 2005.Originally built to supply water to new public fountains, it now houses visiting art installations and a gallery dedicated to Swatch -- a contraction, incidentally, of 'Second Watch'. Harry Winston, Breguet and Tissot are some of the recent visiting exhibitions.
The restaurant, lounge and bar, Au Phil du Temps by Philippe Chevrier Le Traiteur, is a relaxed bistro offering fresh market produce in tune with rhythms of the seasons as well as over 30 wines focusing on vineyards across the Geneva region.
Design your own watch —
A luxury watch contains a minimum of 300 parts and takes around 150 hours to make, while some watchmakers will work up to 2000 hours on their masterpieces. With the highest precision and tolerances measured in hundredths of a millimeter, that's an awful lot of sawing, drilling, liming and polishing.A number of ateliers across Geneva offer the chance to design and help make your own watch, including the fitting and encasing -- luckily their craftsmen will finish the job for you before you get serious bragging rights on the wrist.
Stroll along the Rue du Rhône —
Finish the day with some retail therapy along the Rue du Rhône where the most prestigious watch and jewelery brands vie with one another. The biggest names are all here, alongside serious high-end fashion.125 year old Bucherer is Switzerland's market leader, the largest and most well-known store offering the biggest selection of Rolex watches anywhere, in addition to scores of other well known names that attract an international clientele.
In case you're flgging with all that purchasing, Rue du Rhône also boasts cafés, restaurants and a couple of master chocolatiers to restore those energy levels.
