Photos From the Zenith Factory and Patek Philippe Boutique in Switzerland

During our trip to Baselworld, we saw many exquisite watches. We were apart of the thousands of watch enthusiasts who entered the doors of Baselworld, excited to come away with a new favorite watch. However, Switzerland had more to offer than Baselworld. Just a train ride away is the city of Le Locle, Switzerland. Situated in the Jura Mountains, Le Locle is the third smallest city in Switzerland. However, it is also considered to be the birthplace of Swiss watch making. Many Swiss luxury watch brands have manufactures and boutiques in Le Locle, such as Zenith, Tissot, Zodiac, and Ulysse Nardin.

One of the brands we had the chance to visit was Zenith’s factory. Upon entrance to the factory, one is immediately greeted by a statue of Felix Baumgartner, who looks like he is ready for another record-breaking jump from space.

The Zenith factory in Le Locle is full of workers at computers designing the movements of the Zenith watches. There are also floors of watchmakers that are painstakingly working on creating some of the finest movements and watches.

We also made our way to Geneva to visit several of the luxury watch brand boutiques and museums. One of the museums that we had the chance to visit was the Patek Philippe museum. Located in a building from the early 1900s, the Patek Philippe museum as been in Geneva since 1999. The museum has four floors of watches that take the visitor through the history of Patek Philippe watchmaking. Two of the collections that are housed in the museum are the Antique Collection, which includes watches from 1500 to 1840, and the Patek Phlippe Collection, which is comprised of watches from 1839 to 2000. Also in the museum is an old book that list all of the early watches with their model numbers and the prices they were sold for. It was very interesting to see how much the prices have changed!

Also in Geneva is the Patek Philippe boutique. The inside was decorated with lavish furniture and chandeliers. The elegant interior of the boutique made you excited to purchase an expensive Patek Philippe watch.

We also made a stop at Vacheron Constantin while in Geneva. While there, we had the chance to look at several exquisite watches!

Our time in Switzerland was incredible. We had the opportunity to meet many watch enthusiasts and see many exquisite watches. Looking forward to Baselworld 2014!