By Larry Olmsted Senior Contributor
Building your own watch, jewelry or Swiss knife in Paris or Geneva is fun and creates a high-quality … More bespoke souvenir unique to you and your travels
A few years ago I had one of the more memorable travel experiences of my career when I attended a watchmaking workshop in Geneva and made my own Swiss watch. It’s mechanical, it’s gorgeous and every time I wear it I get compliments. It was the ultimate Swiss souvenir. But Intium, the excellent and innovative company that pioneered DIY watchmaking, has since expanded to other locations and more fascinating “make it yourself” projects, and all of these combine the best of happy memory travel keepsakes. Whether you make a simple watch or a very fancy one, custom jewelry or your very own bespoke Swiss Army-style multi-blade utility knife, you can go home with the ultimate travel souvenirs from France or Switzerland.
Paris, Geneva or Le Noirmont
The highest luxury end of the Intium DIY range is building your own mechanical watch with a rare … More tourbillon movement, like these.
I wrote about the Geneva watchmaking experience in detail here at Forbes. But while the city is a logical place to do it, historically associated with the fine watch industry and home to Rolex, Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, and Audemars Piguet, there are other options. Most notably, Intium, the company that operates the workshops, expanded to Paris, one of the most popular tourism cities in the world, in 2024 (read more about the Parios store here at Forbes). They also have a third workshop in the heart of Switzerland’s historic Jura watchmaking region, in Le Noirmont, between Bern and Basel.
Custom jewlery, in gold or silver with or with precious stones, is another “Do It Yourself” craft … More experience Intium offers in France and Switzerland.
Three locations mean three times the options for travelers, but the latest big addition is the introduction of the all-new knife making classes, which I just tried. Multi-function utility knives are one of the most famous and iconic Swiss products, but these are better looking and better quality than the widely available mass-market brands. Basically, it is the same approach to creating a knife that Swiss watchmakers take to make fine timepieces, starting with the highest quality parts. Sharper, higher quality steel blades are manufactured by a Swiss company specializing in intricate watch components, and the program lets each attendee choose their own mix of blades and accessories. These include some useful and rarely seen options such as a tick removal tool with built-in magnifying glass, something that unfortunately is becoming much more important (just the other day the New York Times ran an article on the geographic spread of ticks and the diseases they carry).
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You choose every component of the knife, from blades and tools to cover material and color.
You also choose the exterior of the knife, from the solid-colored plastic hues we associate with these kinds of tools to exotic and heavily grained hardwoods to satin finished titanium. Blades can be normal or matte black finishes.
Assembling a knife at a workstation in one of Intium’s workshops.
I replaced the traditional Swiss Army knife I used to carry on hiking trips with this new one for a weeklong trip to Spain with picnics along the way and immediately noticed the better design and functionality in addition to having a better-looking knife that was a memorable keepsake. The blades are better, stronger and sharper, and in one ultra-simple example of thoughtful design, they put more coils on a longer wine cork remover than normal. That has always been one of the more frustrating functions of these knives, which either don’t go in the cork far enough, or when they do, leave no room for your fingers to fit around the body and provide leverage. Easier opening of wine on a trip to Europe is an immediate and appreciated advantage. In addition, the Intium knives all have locking blades, a much safer design, one that releases easily at the push of a button.
The finished product isn’t just customized by you, it’s the highest quality. This one evn inlcudes a … More handy tick remover with magnifying glass for those of us who live in areas with ticks.
The Ultimate Travel Souvenirs
The make your own Swiss knife classes are shorter, more accessible and more affordable than the watch classes, and it was just a perfect way to spend a morning in Geneva after an overnight flight. My wife and I arrived at the studio, which is a short walk from any of the top luxury hotels in the city, we had a great time, and now we have his and her mementos of our trip that we actually use (I just wrote a detailed profile of one of the city’s great hotels, the Forbes 5-Star Mandarin-Oriental Geneva, here at Forbes). 2-hour classes start at just $234, including taking home the knife you just made.
The watchmaking classes are longer and more complex, but also involve choosing every component to … More make a truly one-of-a-kind timepiece.
For watches, the slate of classes has expanded from the basic mechanical watch I made to include a more sophisticated watch with the most collectible complication of all, a tourbillon movement. Make your own watch classes that include taking one home begin at about $2,000 and run all the way the over $19,000 for the tourbillion.
The jewelry making classes let you solder, hammer, shape and bend silver or gold into one-of-a-kind wearables. Many couples do this together to make their own bespoke wedding bands even more special. It is also popular with those who want to repurpose a family gemstone or diamond in a new way, and it is a special and romantic way to craft a diamond engagement ring. A basic silver ring course begins at $590 and goes to $800 with semi-precious stones, while a two-ring couples class begins at $1,490. A gold and diamond engagement ring starts at around $3,000, and a pair of 18-carat gold wedding bands can be made together for $4,380. Custom classes are offered to expand the selection of precious stones.
A finished product, even Intium’s most basic watch is still gorgeous, with a mechnaical Swiss … More movement.
Having now done two of the three Intium offerings, I cannot recommend the experience enough. Studios are beautiful, with well-equipped workstations and expert instruction, and if you are into watches, just the insights and knowledge you gain about mechanical movements and complications is worth the price of admission. For all the classes, the one-of-a-kind keepsakes are more special than store bought products, and truly the ultimate travel souvenirs.
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