You don’t get far in Geneva without encountering a watch shop, and if you’re keen to further explore the Swiss passion for timekeeping, head for the Watch Museum, or Musée de l’Horlogerie. From sundials and other pre-mechanical devices via centuries of clockwork innovations to present day electronics, humanity’s ever more sophisticated methods of measuring time are laid before you.
Elaborately jeweled and decorated clocks give new meaning to the phrase “time is money”, while the museum also boasts some of the earliest examples of one of Switzerland’s foremost exports, the wristwatch, dating from 1640. Around that time Geneva was known as one of the most important centers for enamelwork, and the collection also encompasses miniature portraits, snuff boxes and other exquisitely detailed pieces.
The museum is housed in a 19th century villa in the charming Parc de Malagnou, about 10 minutes’ walk from the Old Town.
