Watches and Wonders 2027. A week of appointments, and very little slack between them.
Around seventy-five houses under one roof at Palexpo, with the city's boutiques and dinners running alongside. The fair is a schedule, and the schedule needs a car.
The fair
Geneva 2027 at a glance
- DatesMonday 5 to Sunday 11 April 2027Professional days at the start of the week, then public days over the final weekend.
- WherePalexpo, Le Grand-SaconnexThe exhibition complex immediately beside Geneva Airport, off the A1 at the Geneve Aeroport exit.
- ScaleAround seventy-five housesThe 2027 edition adds new exhibitors again, and the programme extends into the city centre.
- Nearest airportGeneva (GVA)Palexpo is a few minutes from the terminal. It is the shortest airport transfer on our books anywhere.
Dates and format as announced by the organisers for 2027. Trade and public access arrangements are published by the fair.
Who this is for
The week belongs to the person with the diary
Watches and Wonders is not a day out. Retailers, collectors, press and the houses themselves run twenty-minute appointments from breakfast until the evening, in the halls at Palexpo and then across the city. The client we drive most in that week is not the person in the meeting; it is the assistant who has to make eleven appointments work in a day when two of them will overrun.
The useful thing about Geneva is that it is small. Palexpo is beside the airport, the Rue du Rhone and the Quai du Mont-Blanc are fifteen to twenty-five minutes away in normal traffic, and the hotels on both banks are within a short run of each other. The unhelpful thing is that during the fair, everyone moves at the same times: out to Palexpo mid-morning, back into town at six, and then to dinner at eight. A car held for the day absorbs that. A car ordered each time does not.
Journey times
Around Geneva in fair week
| Between | Normal | Fair week, peak hours |
|---|---|---|
| Geneva Airport and Palexpo | 5 minutes | 5 to 15 minutes |
| City centre and Palexpo | 15 to 20 minutes | Allow 25 to 45 minutes |
| Right bank hotels and Palexpo | 10 to 15 minutes | Allow 20 to 35 minutes |
| Palexpo and Cologny or Vandoeuvres | 20 to 25 minutes | Allow 30 to 45 minutes |
| Geneva and Lausanne | About 1 hour | 1 hour to 1 hour 20 |
| Geneva and Annecy | About 1 hour | 1 hour to 1 hour 30 |
Planning guidance for April conditions, not promises. The Mont-Blanc bridge and the lakeside quays are the pinch points at either end of the day.
What clients usually book
One car, one chauffeur, the whole week
- An as-directed car from the first appointment to the last dinner, so an overrunning meeting costs you nothing
- Collection at the private terminal at Geneva, which is minutes from Palexpo
- The same chauffeur across the week, who learns the routine and the entrances by the second day
- Two or three cars for a house's team or a retail group moving between the stand and the city
- Discreet carriage of stock and cases between appointments, where your own security arrangements allow
- A run to Lausanne, Neuchatel or the Vallee de Joux for factory visits after the fair
Arriving and leaving
The shortest transfer, and the busiest airport week
Geneva Airport is on the Palexpo doorstep, which makes arrivals easy and departures deceptive. The private terminals sit on the other side of the field and are at their busiest of the year in fair week, alongside the ski season's final departures. Allow proper time for the transfer round to the general aviation side and, if you are on a scheduled flight, for a terminal that is carrying its spring peak.
From London the flight is around an hour and a half, and there are several fields at the London end to choose from. If you are arriving and departing on the same day, which plenty of people do in fair week, tell us both ends at once and we will hold a single car rather than two.
Switzerland is outside the area where we run our own cars and employ our own chauffeurs, which is London and Manchester. In Geneva your car is arranged through operators we have worked with for years, briefed by us and managed by us, with one number for the whole trip.
Book early
Fair week empties Geneva of cars
The city's hotels and its good cars are spoken for months ahead of the fair, and the houses book earliest of all. Tell us your dates as soon as your appointments are set.
Around the fair
Related pages
Request a quote
Send us the diary
Your dates, how many cars you need and roughly how the days run. If you have a schedule of appointments, send it and we will plan around it. Nothing is booked or charged online.
Prefer to talk? +44 2030 048300 or WhatsApp, at any hour.
Questions people ask
About fair week in Geneva
Should we book by the hour or by the day?
By the day, for this week. Appointments overrun and the fair is on one side of the city while dinner is on the other. As-directed hire is what most clients settle on after their first year.
How far is Palexpo from the airport?
A few minutes by road. It is next door. The transfer that needs time is the one round to the private terminals when you leave.
Can the same chauffeur stay with us all week?
That is how we prefer to run it, and it makes a real difference by the third day. Tell us when you enquire so we can hold the same car and driver.
Can you carry cases and stock between appointments?
We carry what you bring, discreetly and without comment. Any security arrangements for valuables remain yours to set, and we will work to them.
Do you have your own cars in Switzerland?
Our own fleet and chauffeurs are in London and Manchester. In Geneva we arrange cars through operators we know and manage the trip ourselves.
