{"id":5473,"date":"2018-06-01T08:00:48","date_gmt":"2018-06-01T06:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/preprod.gmtmag.com\/?p=5473"},"modified":"2018-06-20T17:30:21","modified_gmt":"2018-06-20T15:30:21","slug":"geneva-watch-tour-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gmtmag.com\/en\/lifestyle-n-en\/gwt-2\/geneva-watch-tour-3.html","title":{"rendered":"Geneva Watch Tour: visit Geneva and discover watchmaking"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Intrinsically linked to watchmaking since the world\u2019s first watchmakers\u2019 corporation was born in 1601 under the name \u201cMa\u00eetrise des horlogers de Gen\u00e8ve\u201d, Geneva has become home to the greatest concentration on the planet of mono-brand and multi-brand boutiques per square kilometer, quite apart from the cultural institutions that give visibility to the art of measuring time. A pedestrian route now provides an opportunity to admire them all by visiting the most iconic areas in the city, following in the footsteps of Swiss watchmaking history.<\/strong><\/p>\n

By including some 50 mono-brand boutiques and as many multi-brand retailers, the Watch Tour provides an overview of the Swiss watchmaking panorama, while visiting Geneva\u2019s most symbolic districts \u2013 such as the station and the tourist office for a start, followed by the shopping quarter in the center, the old town with its art and decoration galleries, the banking and cultural institution district, as well as the modern art district which is home to the Patek Philippe Museum.<\/p>\n

GENEVA\u2019S WATCHMAKING DNA<\/h3>\n
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Mur des R\u00e9formateurs (Reformers\u2019 Wall)<\/p><\/div>\n

Everything started in the mid-16th century, when the head of the reformation, Jean Calvin, promulgated an interdict on showing outward signs of wealth in Geneva, forcing the jewelers and goldsmiths to direct their skill towards watchmaking creation. Two centuries later, Geneva was exporting around 60,000 watches, and because there were too many watchmakers in the city at the end of the lake, they moved to the Ju ra.In 1909, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Calvin\u2019s birth, which coincided with the 350th anniversary of the foundation of the Geneva Academy, the authorities erected the five-meter high Mur des R\u00e9formateurs<\/strong> (Reformers\u2019 Wall) in the Parc des Bastions, opposite the Grand Th\u00e9\u00e2tre<\/strong>. Statues of the movement\u2019s four great figures stand against part of the old wall that surrounded the city up until the 19th century.<\/p>\n

Even Geneva\u2019s emblem par excellence, the Jet d\u2019eau<\/strong>, has its origins in the city\u2019s watchmaking foundations. Geneva\u2019s watchmaking vocation, combined with the organization of labor division (known as \u00e9tablissage, attributed to goldsmith Daniel JeanRichard) from the 18th century onward, led some 4,000 watchmaking craftsmen to settle around the Rh\u00f4ne in order to use the available hydraulic energy, notably that emanating from the B\u00e2timent de la Machine<\/strong> as of 1872, and that of the Coulouvreni\u00e8re waterworks from 1886. This pressurized water enabled a large number of operations involved in the manufacture of movements and watch cases, such as milling, to be mechanized. In their \u201ccabinets\u201d or workshops, the men who became known as the \u201ccabinotiers\u201d (master watchmakers) closed the indispensable water tap at virtually the same moment at the end of their day\u2019s work, giving rise to over-pressure which the machinists in the Coulouvreni\u00e8re then had to urgently compensate by stopping the pumps. One of them had the bright idea of installing a safety valve allowing the over-pressurized water to escape skywards up to about 30 meters high. This became such a ritual display for riverside inhabitants that the Jet d\u2019eau was eventually moved and established as an institutionalized tourist attraction in 1891 by Geneva\u2019s town council.<\/p>\n

\"geneva<\/a>What happened to the \u201ccabinotiers\u201d ? Aside from a heritage that has earned Geneva its international reputation, their activity also made its mark on the architecture of the Saint-Gervais district (between the station and the Rh\u00f4ne), where the precious pressurized water facilitated the work of the craftsmen. Oriented towards the light from the north, their \u201ccabinets\u201d were mostly set up in their homes or on upper floors with big bay windows. Running on from the Pont de la Machine<\/strong>, Rue Rousseau (7 and 9) still has many such windows, as does the Rue Chantepoulet (25) below the railway station. In an eloquent tribute to the spirit of the \u201ccabinotiers\u201d that gave rise to the House of Vacheron Constantin in 1755, the oldest watch brand in uninterrupted activity has completely renovated its historical headquarters on the Quai de l\u2019\u00cele<\/strong> that it has occupied since 1875, designed by the architect of Geneva\u2019s Grand Th\u00e9\u00e2tre.<\/p>\n

NOT-TO-BE-MISSED<\/h3>\n

Open to the public and for guided tours on request, Geneva\u2019s biggest watchmaking museum is none other than the Patek Philippe Museum<\/strong>, whose four floors exhibit important watchmaking and enamel collections from Geneva, Switzerland and Europe, from the 16th to the 20th century.<\/p>\n\n\t\t