BEYER
CLOCK & WATCH
MUSEUM ZURICH
Time on Display on Bahnhofstrasse
I’m
not sure how the Swiss came to their fascination with time and precision
time pieces, but it
is as recognizable as huffing and
puffing with luggage to catch a train scheduled to leave in one minute.
The
Swiss relationship to the precision watch is evident almost anywhere
you go. From the altitudes of Zermatt to the streets of Bern where
Einstein recognized the special relation of time to space, storefronts
representing 
famous
brands of Swiss watches beckon with glittering wonders from the shopping
streets. In Lucerne’s headquarters
of Bucherer you can ride an escalator past the world’s largest
ball operated time piece. In Geneva, the home of Patek Phillipe you
can find the origins of Swiss watchmaking (see Patek Philippe
Museum),
but it is in Zurich where the Bahnhofstrasse from the train station
to
the
lakeside
is
virtually
lined with watch makers and watch sellers that the Swiss love of time
and bedazzling jewelry comes home.
The
Chronometrie Beyer watch company was first recognized as a watchmaker
in Zurich in 1760 under
Frederich
Beyer. 100 years later Adelrich Beyer,
who had been employed as a craftsman by Patek Phillipe in Geneva, returned
to Zurich and built the present company. The Beyer watchmakers moved
a number of times before finding the current location on Bahnhofstrasse,
where due to a law in Zurich restricting shops in the city’s
basements, Theodore Beyer, who had been gathering a world class collection
of time pieces decided to display his private collection for the public.
The Beyer Clock and Watch Museum opened in 1970 in the basement below
the firm's main store located about halfway between the train station
and the lake on Zurich's main shopping avenue.
One
the world’s best private collections of time pieces, the
museum displays clocks from as early as a 1400 BC (not the least mechanical)
to watches that have been to the highest points on earth to the deepest
depths of the oceans. Swiss clocks with wooden movements, enameled
glorious Baroque beauties of the King Louis of France. A Chinese emerald
pagoda clock, a twin of one in the royal collection of England's
Queen Elizabeth. A German Renaissance astronomical clock Theodore
Beyer acquired after a night
of beer drinking
and bargain in the Germany Black Forest to 
Neuchatel
clocks of Limoges enamel (see Watchmaking
Museum La Chaux-de-Fonds).
A fascinating Planetarium table clock from
the
1700’s to
a “revolution” watch
telling time according to the decimal system which Napoleon tried to
establish for his empire. Iron church clock movements and two historic
examples of Rolex watches - one which Sir Edmund Hillary wore on his
conquering climb of Mt. Everest and a maritime Rolex watch built to
withstand a decent into the Marianas Trench. The museum is open from
2 pm to
6 pm Monday to Friday. Admission to the museum is 5 Swiss Francs with
children under 12 free. Guided tours can be arranged for groups.
If you're in the mood to take home a Swiss watch, the ground floor of Beyer is a dazzling display of beautiful modern as well as antique time pieces and jewelry, where while shopping drinks and finger food are offered the customer. Not exactly for the bargain hunter, the watches for sale at Beyer start at 1000 chf. As much now a retailer as a manufacturer, Beyer sells and meticulously services a variety of Switzerland’s best well known brands, Patek Philippe, Rolex, Chopard, Breitling, Girard-Perregaux as well as their own. Chronometrie Beyer also auctions antique time pieces through it’s Antiquorium, which has auctioned the most unique watches at world record prices.
TURLER COSMOS CLOCK
Should
the collection at Beyer not be enough to satisfy your addiction to
time, venture across the
street
to the Türler Company store.
Tuerler is another historic watch maker and retail store in Zurich
for 125 years where the Türler Clock is on display in the main
showroom. Made of 1.2 tons of brass with 251 wheels and 155 pinions
in its movement,
the Türler Clock is one of the most complex time pieces ever created,
designed to mark the time from its location in Zurich in relation to
the movement of the entire cosmos, marking the "platonic year" down
to the relation of Zurich to the horizon at any given moment. No admission
cost is necessary to see the Türler Clock, just go watch shopping. © Bargain
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Beyer Clock and Watch Museum
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SEE ALSO:
ZURICH
FOR THE HOLIDAYS
GROSSMUNSTER
CHURCH - ZURICH'S SAINTS
WALLISERHOF CHALET HOTEL ZERMATT
