After being founded in 2001, Geneva’s Watchmaking Grand Prix quickly became one of the major events in the watchmaking industry.
Participation to Geneva’s Watchmaking Grand Prix is free and the challenge is widely open to all brands, no matter how prestigious they are. The City and the Republic of Geneva both preside over it.
The jury is international and independent. It gathers some experts and journalists specialized in watches, as well as few collectors.
All the watches competing are shared out into nine categories:
Golden Hand Prize
Special jury Prize
Ladies’ Watch Prize
Men’s Watch Prize
Design Watch Prize
Jewellery Watch Prize
Complicated Watch Prize
Sports Watch Prize
Public Prize.
The categories deliberately enhance the technical and aesthetic aspects of the watches. For each one, ten watches are pre-selected by the jury.
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The most famous prize is the Golden Hand Award, dedicated to the best watch, no matter which category it belongs to.
The Public Prize is awarded by the Internet users and by the people visiting the exhibition of the pre-selected watches. Three winners will be chosen at random from among the voters and will receive one of the three watches offered by Chopard, Montblanc and Franc Vila.
For the first time this year, a special prize will also be awarded to the best watchmaker ideas man.
The exhibition will take place at the Corraterie office of UBS bank, in the centre of Geneva. The entrance is free and it will last almost two months. The display scrupulously preserves the equity between the watches and the brands. Moreover, it is a unique opportunity to discover and admire so many “chefs d’oeuvre”, exhibited at the same time in one single place in the world.
The prize-giving ceremony will take place in November in Geneva’s Grand Theatre, exceptionally lent by the administrative Counsel of the City. The building will be illuminated by Gerry Hofstetter, the famous Swiss artist, who lightened up the Egyptian pyramids, the Reichstag in Berlin…
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The City of Geneva will be represented by Mrs. Sandrine Salerno (administrative counsellor), while the Republic of Geneva will be represented by Pierre-François Unger (State counsellor). They are both co-presidents of Geneva’s Watchmaking Grand Prix.
At the conclusion of the challenge all the winners are proposed to offer their watch to Geneva’s Museum of watchmaking and enamel work, thus showing their attachment to the preservation of the precious know-how.
The prize-giving ceremony traditionally ends with a diner entertaining most of the CEOs.
Thanks to the four hundred watches and ninety brands taking part to the challenge, Geneva’s Watchmaking Grand Prix goes well beyond the traditional competition between the brands and is now a reference throughout the world.
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