Geneva has long been the home of cultural crosspoints from diplomacy to trade. The Swiss city has built its cultural identity around life’s pleasures like chocolate and luxury with watches being their signature export. A walk around the city with a keen eye will quickly reveal the story of Geneva through clocks. Not many know that the city’s watchmaking roots have a history that started from religion and blossomed into engineering innovation.
In the 16th century Geneva was in the midst of a religious reform from Catholicism to Protestantism spearheaded by French theologian John Calvin. When he introduced a ban on wearing jewelry, the city’s goldsmiths instead turned their skills to the intricacies of watchmaking. As a functional necessity for timekeeping in business and worship, watches were an acceptable accessory in Calvin’s Geneva, leading to the birth of a flourishing watchmaking industry passed from generation to generation.
The Saint Gervais area of Geneva used to be the hub for watchmaking workshops although today only very few watch repair shops remain. Workers relied on getting as much sunlight as possible to complete the fine details required so worked on the very top floor of the workshops that lined the streets. Famed Genevan philosopher Jean Jacques Russeau even had a job as a watchmaker with nods to his time there memorialised throughout the city. Behind the luxury names that pioneer the contemporary watch industry, there is a rich history of creative minds and social transformation that made Geneva the golden standard.
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photography. Courtesy of Geneva Tourism
words. Shama Nasinde
