Buying Vintage Watches at Plainpalais + The GPHG Watchmaking Awards Exhibit, November 16, 2024

On Saturday I took my iPhone to Geneva's famous Plainpalais flea market. Join me on a tour that includes all of the vintage watches that I could find! We also stop by the Rath Museum and take a look at some of the GPHG nominated and winning watches for 2024.

chapter index:
00:00 Pont du Mont-Blanc and arrival
03:00 "signed" Jean-Michel Basquiat and Banksy posters (not)
04:14 Mary Shelley's Frankenstein sculpture
04:54 five minutes of close-ups of very beat up mechanical watches
10:15 Valjoux 88 on another customer's wrist
10:50 negotiation and purchase of 100 Chf Ginsbo-matic (after looking at 30 jewel Consul)
13:03 short clip of promo film for Marti AG, the tunneling company that engraved the Ginsbo-matic
14:00 short review of the ETA 2789-1 in the Ginsbo-matic
15:03 arrival at the GPHG exhibit and the Rath Museum
16:40 a beginner watchmaking lesson at the GPHG
17:23 HEAD (Haute école d'art et de design) exhibit at the GPHG
20:52 GPHG watch exhibit with prices
34:10 conclusion and quick stop at the Parc des Bastions

Highlights include buying another ETA 2789-1 dual language day date Ginsbo-matic for 100 Chf. The watch is engraved by Marti AG, Solothurn as an employee appreciation gift but is not engraved with an employee name, which suggests that it was never presented to an employee. Marti AG is a very interesting and important construction and tunneling company in Switzerland:

https://youtu.be/geMM5TJ2A7c

The last third of the video is about the GHPG Awards Exhibit, which includes watches made by the two young watchmakers that I met a few weeks ago at the Horlo'troc watch fair in Les Fins, France. The GPHG (the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève) is a non-profit foundation that awards prizes to the most important new watches created or released each year. As part of its mission it exhibits the nominated timepieces at several different locations around the world, giving the public unparalleled access to view watches that would be very difficult and often even impossible to otherwise view first hand.

Unfortunately my friend Arafat was not at the flea market today but we'll catch him another time!

This video was recorded November 16, 2024

The Plainpalais Flea Market is every Wednesday and Saturday year round in Plaine de Plainpalais in the center of Geneva, Switzerland

Fondation du Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève
Rue des Vollandes 23
CH - 1207 Genève

#vintage #watches #watchmaking #tools #fleamarket #switzerland