We spent our first full day exploring Switzerland by foot today in Geneva. Despite what a few people have told us regarding their thoughts on Geneva, I really enjoyed it, especially the views from the top of St. Peter’s Cathedral, where you could see Lake Geneva, a view of the entire skyline of the city, and of course, the famous jet d’eau in the middle of the lake.

One place I wanted us to visit was the Patek Philippe Museum, which is a watch museum devoted to the history of Patek Philippe watches and time pieces, and the work and intricacies that go into watch and clock making. I wasn’t sure what I would think of the museum and if it would be more for watch fanatics rather than people like me who just like the way they look and wanted to learn more about the history of watches, but this ended up being one of my favorite things we did in Geneva. We saw the most sophisticated watches I’ve ever seen in my life at this museum, and they show you small videos where you can see the mechanisms that go into each part of a watch and how they control each movement. Each feature, as the exhibit describes, is called a “complication.” Whereas in real life, we think of complications as negative things, in the watch making world, “complications” are another intricate component to a watch that makes the watch more unique and multifacted.

One of the most ornate watches, in addition to of course showing the time, also depicted Moses knocking rocks with a big stick, which would then release water. One mechanism controlled Moses moving his arms to hit the rocks. Another mechanism controlled the water flowing. An additional one controlled people around him drinking the water. And if that wasn’t enough, there were even more mechanisms on the exact same pocket watch that controlled what looked like angels moving around.

Another peculiar thing I learned at the museum was that in the 1600-1700s, it was very posh for the well-to-do in Europe to have little pocket watches custom designed and hand-painted to depict nude women either touching themselves or touching each other. I wonder if these people actually used these for masturbation purposes. It’s amazing how times have changed if this is the case because I never would have thought to use a pocket watch for that purpose.