HORLOGE FLEURIE (FLOWER CLOCK)
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The magnificent mosaic of plants, flowers and a watch mechanism is the jewel of Swiss watchmaking.
If you don't leave with a watch on your wrist, at least leave with a photo of the flowered clock. Installed since 1955 on the Promenade du Lac, it is the witness of the Swiss and Genevan know-how of the world high-end watch industry. You have to go back in time to understand why Geneva has such an emblem today. The first "orologeur", a Frenchman named Thomas Bayard, took office in 1554. The Reformation was adopted in 1536 and Calvinism did not allow the wearing of jewelry, which was considered ostentatious. The city's goldsmiths and the know-how of many Protestant refugees encouraged the development of clock-making. The clock represents a double feat: a gardener's feat on the one hand, and a technician's feat on the other. A plant mosaic that is modified four to five times a year and the hands are changed according to the seasons. On the bolts side, the movement must animate each second the largest hand-trotteuse of the world (2,50 m, 27 cm of course of a second to another). The watch has a diameter of 5 m. Its look changes according to the seasons and is composed of more than 13,000 new plants and flowers transplanted such as alternanthera for the frieze, santolina for the number part and begonias in the heart. The renowned watch brand Patek Philippe has added three sets of new hands to the magnificent decoration. As for the precision system, it is directly connected to an electronic time setting by satellite.
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