Is Switzerland not the home of quirky watch enthusiasts?

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Traveling through Switzerland with the family on holiday and my wife expects I will buy a watch “since you’re here.”

If I were looking for a retail shopping experience with all the major Swiss brands, there is certainly plenty of opportunity. But my current watch collecting interest lay with unique or unusual finds, so I’m more focused on vintage or modern but discontinued items.

I have contemplated purchasing something relatively inexpensive just as a symbolic memento from my trip, including nosing through a Swatch store, but that’s at odds with my aversion to impulse buying.

I also wondered, before arriving, whether Switzerland would have a thriving vintage or second hand watch market with interesting dealers off the beaten path, but I have yet to discover those.

With a few days left of our trip, I’m keeping my eyes and heart open for a serendipitous watch discovery, but nothing so far.

I will say it has been nice to see certain currently manufacture watches in the flesh that I would otherwise rarely come across like the Moser Streamliner, a Reverso tourbillon, and the new Land Dweller, so it has still satisfied my general watch curiosity. Just not the element of surprise in finding unexpected or unusual watches for purchase.
 
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But aside from purchasing, there’s plenty of great signage and literature all around to enjoy.
 
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Maybe try their local marketplace ( ebay ) Ricardo.ch ? Anything "quirky" will show up with them.
 
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Are there still small watchmaker shops in La Chaud de Fonds or Le Locle, Le Sentier or Biel, Les Brennets or Le Brassus...? So maybe not the big cities Geneve, Zürich...
In the 80s and 90s there were and they had a lot of forgotten pieces in their drawers.
Yes its long ago, but a try....
Konrad
 
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Are there still small watchmaker shops in La Chaud de Fonds or Le Locle, Le Sentier or Biel, Les Brennets or Le Brassus...? So maybe not the big cities Geneve, Zürich...
In the 80s and 90s there were and they had a lot of forgotten pieces in their drawers.
Yes its long ago, but a try....
Konrad

I hope they are. That will have to be my next trip to Switzerland to find out.
 
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[QUOTE="noelekal, post: 2603918, ]

Well, it is for certain when quirky Texans invade!
[/QUOTE]

and presumably a second Omega on your wrist?
 
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Well, it is for certain when quirky Texans invade!
Why you putting up pictures of Lyndon Johnson?
 
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Ya’ think?


I cheated though and also wore the Omega at Schaffhausen and the IWC Museum.
 
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Alright Walrus!

I’m wounded! Wounded I tell you!

I’ll have you know that my parents had a Goldwater sign up in the front lawn in fall of ‘64.
 
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Alright Walrus!

I’m wounded! Wounded I tell you!

I’ll have you know that my parents had a Goldwater sign up in the front lawn in fall of ‘64.

And that how they repay you! Life has it's ironies 😀
 
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the real Switzerland: Oberalp Gossalp waterfall, very narrow single lane roads, rocks in Uri-Alps
Uri-Rotstock Isenthal
.
 
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the real Switzerland: Oberalp Gossalp waterfall, very narrow single lane roads, rocks in Uri-Alps
Uri-Rotstock Isenthal
.
It’s a beautiful country. My whole family agrees we must go back for more hiking in the mountains and around the lakes.