Switzerland trip Zürich and Geneva AP experience

[Steele]

So this is a trip that’s been long in coming and have been planning for over 6 months, I have really wanted to go back to the motherland and get as much watchmaking as I could into the trip, but for this trip it was a very quick trip with the family so I did as much as I could in what time I had available.
We started off the trip in Zurich and then our way to a few other Swiss cities before ending up in Geneva and then headed back to Zurich where we flew out to Paris.

Geneva AP boutique
My AP experience at the boutique in Geneva was amazing. Benjamin was the SA who helped me and what an amazing time, He had a vast knowledge of the brand and really understood the watchmaking history of AP I was very impressed. Great conversation we spent about two hours chatting and looking at pieces and of course I was wearing my AP perpetual calendar in yellow gold I felt this really helps break down the barriers in the Boutique to help identify the true collectors, At the boutique, they brought out more than a few amazing pieces in which I was offered this rose gold chandelier chronograph and if the wife wasn’t there to slap me around and remind me IM PINK lol and rose gold does NOT look good on my PINK/White Pasty Skin, there’s a chance she would’ve come home with me even though I am not a rose gold fan if would’ve been yellow gold or white gold. The likelihood of this coming back to America would’ve been very high!
I tried on the Royal Oak offshore blue ceramic 43 mm. I already have this in the black ceramic with the Gold markers and I love it. I wear it often but it is at this point in my collecting journey just a little too large for me. I am looking for the 41 mm and 39 mm is kind of my spot for AP.
They then Brought out a gem set Code 1159 for the wife to look at it was the pink sapphires and my wife thought the peace was amazing. Just way too large for her. She has a very tiny wrist and she’s usually wears a 26 to 28 mm Rolex. Yes she has two AP and Vacheron.

The boutique itself was small and very busy as this is the Christmas holiday buying season. It was a lot busier than I expected it to be to be honest. The boutique was to be as expected, very well-designed and a good location in Geneva. It was very well staffed, and from the very beginning to the greetings at the door, everything was very fluid and professional overall great experience.

I was offered three total pieces at the boutique, but nothing that really for me as I already have a very substantial AP collection and am looking for specific Sizes and pieces from 37mm ROO to 41mm RO

Zürich AP house

So my visit to the house in Zürich was kind of a little confusing in the beginning as it is located inside of a building that you have to walk into to get to the actual house. Once you go inside, it’s a little bit confusing as you’re looking around and you think you’re walking into a bank!!! In reality, that’s exactly what it is. It’s an old bank that has been converted into the AP house. Absolutely amazing they did a great job. It was set up for Christmas so very festive. The staff there was great. I even asked the front door guy am I at the right place here? He laughed and said yes They greeted me once I entered, and I told them that I have a bucket list of traveling around the world and visiting all of the houses and boutiques we had off right away. We talked about my collection. We talked about how much time I was spending in Zürich and Switzerland in total. They asked me what plans I had for dinner for this evening and when I told them none, they immediately started booking dinner reservations for me, which was completely above and beyond anything I ever could have expected. It was so great literally worked for a good 15 minutes to get me a reservation multiple restaurants in the area.
At this point, I really was looking for a piece for the wife as I figured there was no chance of getting any Royal oaks for myself so I went back and collected the wife at the hotel and the small child Headed back to the boutique
Where we met with the SA Cedric It was very funny because he immediately noticed my yellow gold perpetual calendar and said if there was one Watch he would ever get that would be his endgame. I was wearing it and what a treat that was so of course I took my watch off and let him wear it Lol. I told him I was looking for the Wifey And we are looking for something 34 mm and down due to her small wrist size. They did have the 34 mm rose gold with the diamond bezel, but it was already spoken for so then I asked him if I could even just try on one of the ceramic pieces because I never had a chance to try one on or see one in the flash, Unfortunately, they did not have any in stock This is when he brought out the double balance, yellow gold in the brand new reference number. My first experience with this piece in precious metal and what I do like about it is that the new dial really focuses on bringing out the inner workings of the watch you have to really see it in person to understand the older reference the 15407 Where your eye is drawn to the double balance bridge Has now changed to where your eye is drawn deep into the movement more of a 3-D effect The gold that they are now using for their yellow gold is definitely being mixed with the sand gold. It is a much lighter yellow gold than their other pieces. I should’ve taken a picture side-by-side with my watch, but I just was not thinking about it total FAIL
So after talking for a little bit, I asked him OK what’s in the back? What amazing piece can you show us? So this is when he brought out what is by far the most beautiful piece of watch/jewelry Creation that I have ever had a chance to experience. It was the Royal Oak concept the 38.8 mm Blue sapphire tourbillion And let me tell you I wore it for a good 30 minutes and never once will you ever be able to look at The watch and see the same or experience the same visual effect ever. It is an ever-changing ever evolving visual experience As the light is moving, the angle of the watch is moving every single movement or change in position the watch opens up new dimensions of amazingness!!
They had a client coming in to look at it, and I told him if If his wife does not want it, I want it!!!!!!

Another funny thing that happened in the Zürich house was they had a giant 4 foot tall book that had the actual page with the movement of the watch that I was wearing open to when we arrived. I had to get a photograph. It was too funny. what are the coincidences?

Cheers

[Akacoke]

What a great read for Sunday afternoon! Thanks for posting photos. Looks like you had a fun time.

[Slackergirl]

I was at the Zurich AP House in October. First time for me in an AP House and had a great time. If I wasn't hooked on AP before the visit I definitely was after. Sounds like you had as fun a time as I did there. Jealous you got to visit Zurich during the Christmas markets. Think that trip is on the list for next year....of course with another stop at the AP House!

[Steele]

Originally Posted by Akacoke

What a great read for Sunday afternoon! Thanks for posting photos. Looks like you had a fun time.

Originally Posted by Slackergirl

I was at the Zurich AP House in October. First time for me in an AP House and had a great time. If I wasn't hooked on AP before the visit I definitely was after. Sounds like you had as fun a time as I did there. Jealous you got to visit Zurich during the Christmas markets. Think that trip is on the list for next year....of course with another stop at the AP House!

Amy and Noamie and Cedric where all amazing in Zurich Yes we hit the opening week of the Christmas market it was crazy busy and a great experience, They try hard to imitate the Christmas markets here in the USA but NO CHANCE! you cannot imitate a VIBE and Ambiance! The Christmas market in Montreux was the best with the flying Santa! we stayed at the Fairmont right on the water 2 minute walk to the Christmas market, and a 5 min walk to the train station.

In Zurich we stayed at the Dolder Grand it was a castle basically Beautiful and I highly recommend it

[Steele]

Also, if you have a chance when you’re in Zürich, here is a great little vintage watch shop. It is right in the heart of Zürich about a four minute walk from the AP house. It’s called Faktor Zeit. Sean is one of the owners and we had an absolutely wonderful time they have a beautiful selection of Time pieces. They have everything from very very very old vintage APs to neo vintage Rolex. They had a few examples of 1680 Rolexes with absolute perfect cases and dials. I also tried on this spectacular Rolex Daytona with a factory diamond and emerald dial!!!
It might be a tiny little shop, but it makes up for it with some amazing massive time pieces that are really spectacular and Sean was so full of knowledge we were able to talk for hours and he’s coming out to the show in Miami in January. I’m hoping to take him and his business partner out to dinner. And return a little hospitality to him.

[Rollieo]

Awesome trip and nice photos! Thanks for sharing!

[Steele]

And what is a visit to Geneva if you can’t meet with an up-and-coming master at independent watchmaking. xhevdet rexhepi if you haven’t heard of him, you’ve most likely heard of his brother, so I was fortunate enough to spend the afternoon with him and At his workshop with his team shout out to Lou!! We then went to have lunch with him and one of his apprentices, and what a fabulous gentleman with an amazing story and a skill that you have to be born with.

Listening to his story about him and his brother with their father escaping the war in Kosovo and moving to Switzerland at a very young age where he started off as a furniture maker, and then Later followed in his brothers footsteps working with his brother in creating watches.

Being able to actually handle the timepiece, while he demonstrated to us how he finishes the case and movement and watching the second's hand dead stop was a really cool experience! Hearing his story on how it took him almost 2 years to perfect the movement makes you realize that being an independent watchmaker, the greatest skill that you can have is patience and fortitude.

I feel like if you go to Geneva, and you are a lover of horology Then discovering an independent watchmaker and taking the time to find out what makes this craftsman tic (pun intended) is a must do.

I fell obligated to do my part and helping spread the word of talented artisans such as xhevdet to all my fellow collectors

Here is a link to Hodinkee article

https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/in...next-big-thing

[Akacoke]

This just keeps getting better and better

[Bearxj86]

Great visit and writeups OP! I enjoyed reading them and I am glad you had a great time.

[ButtButt]

Super cool trip and pictures, thanks for sharing!

[supernova]

Great pics and trip, thanks for sharing! That AP house does indeed look odd and not consistent to all the others around the world!

[brandrea]

Thank you for sharing. Nothing like Switzerland at Christmas

[edo]

Great stories, thanks for sharing...

AP just can't see that "woman" size Concepts looks the best on 90% of male wrist and male size Concepts looks bad on 90% of man's wrists.

And about Redzepi brothers... it is sad to see that brothers are not in the best relationship anymore especially considering that for the Shqiptar community with faith, brotherhood is something most important and elevated in ones life.

[Steele]

Sorry this is not going in order but I wanted to try to give my complete watch hunting experience to everyone

So our second stop in the trip was to the beautiful city of Luzern/Lucerne French and German sp. It’s an absolutely beautiful city. I did do a tour around the town center hunting for watch shops. We did walk into the Rolex boutique and unfortunately it is exactly the same experience as you would get all around the world. There is nothing here. They had a very large selection of CPO That course was all extremely overpriced but available to purchase immediately and they actually had a wide variety not just Rolexes, which was really weird. They had a bunch of AP watches also available for sale that were all preowned.
We walked right across the road into the Patek AD And exactly the same thing you would expect anywhere else in the world. They had nothing available. They really weren’t even interested in allowing me to try anything on so it was pretty quick in and out.

We stayed at the beautiful Bürgenstock resort and wow. This is a must stay resort on any trip to Switzerland. You are literally up on the mountain overlooking the lake and above the clouds the amenities of the hotel were all five star I would avoid eating dinner at the restaurants was Meh
We then headed to. Interlacken OST to catch the train to Montreux I would highly recommend any trip to Switzerland to try to take the glacier express train service through the Swiss Alps. It’s truly a treat. We booked the Polaris class That included a Charcuterie tray with wine and champagne. Also the Christmas market in Montreux was the best we found the entire trip.

While in Geneva, I was fortunate enough to go to the M.A.D Gallery where I had a chance to meet with one of their collectors and a gentleman who was writing an article about Max Busser. We had a great time unfortunately the second I hit the door. The conversation just became so amazing that I never had a chance to actually take any photos and I didn’t even think about it because when I left, I left with the journalist who was writing the article and we were having such an in-depth conversation, about time pieces in Sweden that it wasn’t until later that I thought to myself why didn’t I take any photos? #FAIL.
I can’t tell you that there was an overload of very original and complicated time telling works of art everywhere and I was in awe of almost every single one of them and the ones that I was not all of I was confused on how does this work? Just to give you a reference, I was one of the lottery winners for their most recent thin version with the blue dial. Great sales team and they did have an LM101 blue dial gold case that was preowned for sale for I believe 68 or 69,000CHF.

My next stop was off to the Davidoff brothers which literally was Less than a minute walk away I met with Roy Davidoff and let me tell you they had banger after banger after banger. The highlight of that visit was a first known Nautilus that originally had a blue dial that had turned a deep forest green!! Words cannot describe how minty and beautiful this was. I did not get a photograph of it, and I kick myself because it was such an absolutely beautiful piece. It was the lowest 3 million serial number that had been discovered to this date.

Here is one of the boxes that holds an absolutely beautiful Vacheron 222 With factory gem set And that salmon dial AP wow!!!!

I then walked into the JLC boutique I am interested in one day acquiring a Reverso and have never held one in the flesh so this was my first opportunity. As I entered, I was greeted by a female sales associate and seated right by the front window Where asked to see the Reverso Models. After trying on a few of them, she asked me if I wanted to see some of the more complicated pieces of which I said HECK YES!!! lol So she brought out an absolutely stunning r\Reverso Tourbillion And grand Sonnerie. (I took lots of video unfortunately I did not take lots of pictures) But I am convinced that I will own a Reverso one day As I really enjoyed it. It’s like a transformer on the wrist

There is just not enough time in Geneva to hit all of the watchmakers.

[lucasalce]

very cool, glad you enjoyed your time in Switzerland

[m3tek44]

Thank you for sharing amazing journey!!

[Slackergirl]

Great photo's from the hotel. Perfect view. Funny first afternoon in Zurich I stumbled into Faktor Zeit. What a great shop. I had a Moser on and we got talking Moser for a while. They have such a great selection & two of the nicest guys for owners. Great varied selection of watches. Absolute must visit when in Zurich. Ok this thread is getting me looking at when I can make it back to Zurich next!!

[TheHolyLuck]

Thank you very much for having us travelling with you.
I also have nothing but great experiences in Geneva for W&W 2024.
Its like going to Canada when you love Ice Hockey …
What a lovely family trip !

[Vivalas]

Wow what a great trip! Thanks for sharing :-)

[ikincooper]

Thanks for positing about your trip Steele, this is a thread that keeps on giving 👍


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[VogelPhoenix]

Awesome trip and write-up! Thanks!

[Steele]

Originally Posted by Slackergirl

Great photo's from the hotel. Perfect view. Funny first afternoon in Zurich I stumbled into Faktor Zeit. What a great shop. I had a Moser on and we got talking Moser for a while. They have such a great selection & two of the nicest guys for owners. Great varied selection of watches. Absolute must visit when in Zurich. Ok this thread is getting me looking at when I can make it back to Zurich next!!

Yeah I have to say for Sean to really take the time and he even stayed open late for me that was a real class act!

Originally Posted by TheHolyLuck

Thank you very much for having us travelling with you.
I also have nothing but great experiences in Geneva for W&W 2024.
Its like going to Canada when you love Ice Hockey …
What a lovely family trip !

W&W is on my bucket list for sure

Originally Posted by ikincooper

Thanks for positing about your trip Steele, this is a thread that keeps on giving 👍
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There is so much great content here, I really am glad to give back especially with such a trip to the motherland lol

Originally Posted by edo

Great stories, thanks for sharing...

AP just can't see that "woman" size Concepts looks the best on 90% of male wrist and male size Concepts looks bad on 90% of man's wrists.

And about Redzepi brothers... it is sad to see that brothers are not in the best relationship anymore especially considering that for the Shqiptar community with faith, brotherhood is something most important and elevated in ones life.

1- I agree 100% that womans concept is perfect for my 7 inch wrist! and should not be categorized as a womans watch more of a unisex if any designation is needed
2- A loss for everyone for sure, they are both master craftsmen and my wish is to only see them both continue to grow and prosper helping the Independent watch making scene flourish

Originally Posted by brandrea

Thank you for sharing. Nothing like Switzerland at Christmas

honestly my second favorite part of the trip was the Christmas markets

Originally Posted by supernova

Great pics and trip, thanks for sharing! That AP house does indeed look odd and not consistent to all the others around the world!

LOL I was so confused!!! I should have taken photos of the confusing entryway , but great use of the space and keeping the original bones of the bank in place

[1st amg]

Steele, what a thread! This was a thread that keeps on giving. Great pics and wonderful experience. You gave me another idea to set up travel with my family, especially the kids who are skiers. Thanks for sharing.

[GW44]

Love threads like this.

Thank you for sharing this wonderful trip Steele

[HurricaneHarry]

Thanks for taking the time to write this thread. Great to read and appreciate. That YG double balance looks very interesting too


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[MrGoat]

Great thread!! Zurich looks amazing!! Thanks for sharing!!


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[Palex]

Thanks for sharing, great read!

[Steele]

OK I have had someone ask me about the JLC's

the Reverso was amazing and the spherical Tourbillion was amazing and the details on the dial are next level craftsmanship, it was $500,000 CHF WOW yeah I was a little shocked myself I looped it for a good 5 minutes and its a joy to watch the Tourbillion rotate

the Openwork Was more of a piece of machinery the layers and the Sonnerie where super cool to actuate and experience along with the Spherical Tourbillion but it was $750,000 CHF and I almost fell out of my chair lol! DONT DROP IT I THOUGHT!!! THis was the Westminster Edition

As much as I enjoyed these pieces I feel they are way over priced and $250,000 to 300,000 for the Reverso was more reasonable maybe even $200,000 to $250,000 as it is a piece of ART and a mechanical wonder all on one!
As for the Sonnerie I felt $300,000-$325,000 was the high water mark for this piece yes It is amazing and yes it has a lot of BANG but the Buck $$$$$$ worth of bang is $325k tops for me and I have some bangers

I have some great video of both pieces but cannot post it here of course

[Slackergirl]

Originally Posted by Steele

LOL I was so confused!!! I should have taken photos of the confusing entryway , but great use of the space and keeping the original bones of the bank in place

When I as there the SA said they had hosted a couple of small musical events in the evening and that the acoustics were amazing. Ceiling is pretty cool to look at.

[SpeedyTuomas]

In the first post, is that a 37mm gold openwork? Amazing.