Portfolio - Special Edition Switzerland

24 Special Edition Switzerland Watchmaking was launched in 1994. It was the first timepiece to have an aperture window on the dial showing the rotation of the balance wheel where the watch’s ‘heartbeat’ is located beneath. It was an innovation the still-young company failed to patent, resulting in it being much imitated ever since. The maison’s more recent developments include Bluetooth- connected watches allowing the wearer to monitor their sleep, heart rate, and steps within a stylishly classic design. Another fascinating visit outside the city centre is to Watchland in the lakeside village of Genthod, the headquarters of Franck Muller, which took over a restored 1905 mansion here in 1991 and later constructed several more buildings in the same style to house its manufacturing. Located on the slopes above Lac Léman, the beautiful campus offers its watchmakers what is undoubtedly the best view in the business. Does that inspire their craft? Perhaps it helps, but my tour of the facilities – open to the public on appointment – reveals the hard graft that accompanies inspiration. I see how components are created and engraved on hand-operated machines before being meticulously checked by hand Watchland; how they are cleaned and coated with solutions including liquid gold and rhodium; and how machine work including laser cutting combines with fine manual skills. The company is known for its innovative complications: its most complex watch, the Aeternitas, has 1,483 components. Another one is called the Crazy Hours, which features an hour hand that jumps between numerals displayed in the wrong order, while one of its latest models features a QR code Watchmaking isn’t the only thing Geneva is famous for. LEARN Make your own Swiss army knife at the Victorinox boutique on Rue du Marché. victorinox.com RIDE Take a tour of some of the city’s numerous chocolate shops with TaxiBike. Tip: the hot chocolate at La Bonbonnière is divine. taxibike.ch STAY Treat yourself to a night at the luxury hotel Beau Rivage, which offers a watchmaking package in combination with Initium. beau-rivage.ch TIME WELL SPENT allowing the wearer to pay for purchases using their bitcoin account. CRAZY CRAFTSMANSHIP Bitcoin and Bluetooth-connected watches are some of the innovations that may seem a far cry from La Fabrique of days gone by, but they aren’t really. Watchmakers in Geneva and elsewhere have always prized innovation, as evidenced by the wonderful Patek Philippe Museum in central Geneva. The museum gives visitors an eye- opening tour through five centuries of watchmaking. Containing some 2,000 timepieces and items of jewellery, not only by Patek Philippe but by other Swiss and European maisons as well, it also shows how trends, customer desires, and technical innovations – some more successful than others – have always powered watchmaking. On display are throat watches of the 1600s, elaborately decorated ladies’ duelling pistols which squirt perfume when fired. I also spot men’s wristwatches featuring singing bird automata that are made from real hummingbird feathers and a Swannee whistle. Further down, aviation watches with hands coated in glow-in-the- dark phosphorus are gloriously displayed. As I stand open-mouthed in front of these incredible creations, it occurs to me that the bitcoin watch is the singing bird of yesteryear, no doubt to be admired in a museum in hundreds of years, a representative of its era. What ties them together, and centuries of haute horlogerie in between, are the founding principles upon which La Fabrique is built – fine craftsmanship, creativity, and invention.