Time Travelling in Zurich: The Best Stores to Buy Your Next Watch

By: Roger Ruegger

Switzerland is not only home to some of the most prestigious watch brands in the world, it also has “two of the world’s most livable cities” to offer, namely Geneva and Zurich (according to the Global Liveability and Smart City Index). While watch enthusiasts in Geneva often end up spending a lot of time on Rue du Rhône, people usually find themselves spending time on Bahnhofstrasse when in Zurich. The city’s main shopping street is located between the lake and the main station and is easily walkable, both because of its length, but also because it is closed off to private vehicles and generally quite safe. Unsurprisingly, Bahnhofstrasse also happens to be one of the world’s most expensive and exclusive shopping avenues, with an annual rent (for a square meter) ranging between CHF 12,000 and 20,000. As a result, even Bahnhofstrasse has been feeling a loss of retail individuality lately, with global players like Zara, H&M or Mango pushing out older stores or even entire sectors (like toy stores).

In Zurich, Time Has Always Been Money

From the very beginning, Bahnhofstrasse managed to attract one of Switzerland’s best-known industries (next to watches, chocolate and cheese): finance. Schweizerische Kreditanstalt (today’s UBS), for example, had its famous building on Paradeplatz constructed between 1873 and 1876. The first department store to open was Jelmoli on September 16, 1899 (and unfortunately had to close its doors for good on February 28, 2025). More importantly, the first watch store to relocate to Bahnhofstrasse was Beyer Chronometrie: Switzerland’s oldest watch retailer set up shop in 1877 in the very building of the former Schweizerische Kreditanstalt, resulting in so far eight generations of the Beyer family looking “after the most beautiful aspects of time for more than 260 years”. Since 1927, the store can be found a little bit closer to Zurich main station, on Bahnhofstrasse 31 (and on top of one of the best watch museums in the country). – Unfortunately, the new ownership structure with Patek Philippe (from 2027 on) means that Zurich’s most traditional watch store will close by the end of the year, and the museum will have to relocate.

“Always a truly outstanding client experience at Beyer Chronometrie in Zurich. The level of customer service is exceptional — from the moment you walk in, you genuinely feel welcomed and valued. […] Every visit to Beyer Chronometrie feels the same: warm, attentive, and customer-focused. It’s rare to find a place that combines such expertise with sincere care for its clients. Highly recommended.” – Joachim Salien

Much more recently, Omega had chosen Zurich to open its first flagship store on Bahnhofstrasse in the year 2000, leading to “more than 300 Omega boutiques” at “the world’s most prestigious retail addresses” in the years after. Omega (as well as Breitling, Panerai, A. Lange & Söhne and Swatch) has switched its location already once since successfully demonstrating the advantages of a mono-brand environment in Zurich.

Other maisons followed quickly after Omega had provided proof that the future (from a brand’s perspective) was about mono-brand stores : A. Lange & Söhne, Audemars Piguet, Blancpain, Breguet, Breitling, Hublot, IWC, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Panerai, Patek Philippe (operated by Beyer), Piaget, Rolex, Tissot, Tudor (the later three operated by Bucherer) and soon Richard Mille can conveniently be found on the 1.4-km long Bahnhofstrasse between lake Zurich and the train station, while multi-brand stores such as Beyer, Bucherer, Christ, Gübelin, Kurz or Meister continue to offer pretty much anything else on top.

Last brand to move in was Longines in 2025, right next to the TAG Heuer flagship store and across Les Ambassadeurs (which went out of business at the same time). Compared to tourist hotspots like Lucerne, where around 90% of the watches sold go to people visiting from abroad, Zurich has a more balanced split between local and international clients, and therefore does not tend to be as quickly affected by global disruptions such as the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

The Best Watch Boutiques in Zurich

In terms of client experience, Google offers a comparatively easy option to look at how happy watch enthusiasts have left the store, although it is worth mentioning that both a brand’s perception and product scarcity might dilute the numbers shown here to a certain degree (as well as the sheer number of ratings that were left). Watch retail store Christian on Bahnhofplatz 7 (right next to Bahnhofstrasse), for example, has an impressive rating of 4.8 based on almost 700 ratings. Most of these ratings, however, are linked to the retailer’s uber-successful online store. A. Lange & Söhne‘s 5.0-rating, on the other hand, is based on the feedback of only 5 (seemingly very happy) people, whereas the 4.4-rating of the Rolex store (based on the feedback of more than 250 people) might have been directly affected by the brand’s handling of waiting lists, and perhaps less by the staff’s attitude. Speaking of attitude: the Tissot store (also operated by Bucherer) has one of the lowest rankings in the area (4.0 based on around 250 feedbacks) in Zurich, as reflected by comments such as:

“I’m happy with the watch I purchased, but the entire experience was tainted by her unprofessional and rude behavior. It was deeply disappointing, and frankly, she did not demonstrate the level of service expected at a boutique of this standard. She certainly did not deserve to earn any commission from my purchase.” – Min Tan

Cartier, which is not only selling watches, currently also has a 4.0 rating (based on more than 350 votes). Here, the reason might be another one:

“Sometimes these luxury houses are so successful that the customer service has been lost and forget that there is plenty of competition around.” – Philipp Gantner

In general, people planning to shop in Zurich should expect a perhaps more transactional experience, which might be linked to Zurich still representing the biggest financial center in Switzerland and one of the most important financial hubs worldwide. And, as everywhere else, visitors might have a different in-store experience on a Monday morning than ten minutes before store closing on Christmas Eve.

Leave a comment if you want to share a personal experience you’ve had in Zurich. Or reach out to us if you ever find yourself in Zurich and want to talk watches.