About Us

The pace of the city

Geneva moves a little slower than Paris and noticeably quieter than Dubai. Requests come in two or three days ahead, not two hours. Diplomatic protocol, the banking calendar, the Watches & Wonders schedule in April — all of it asks for planning, and our clients plan. The urgent "right tonight" is around fifteen percent of requests here, against half in Moscow.

The manager replies within three minutes at any time of day. Matching a model in Geneva takes on average sixty to ninety minutes — slightly longer than in Moscow, because the base here is more compact, and we don't send the first profile that comes up for a diplomatic format with French and English. Thursday and Friday after seven is peak; in those hours the full shift is in motion and the availability of models with confident French tightens.

April is its own story. Watches & Wonders gathers several thousand watch collectors, dealers and journalists at Palexpo. The city is full, hotels are booked two months out, Rive Droite restaurants don't seat without a reservation. For that week we work on a pre-agreed schedule: requests two weeks ahead, no later.

Season

Geneva has three pronounced peaks, and they have nothing to do with the weather. Watches & Wonders in April is the main one, a week at Palexpo, the reason behind eighty percent of our April requests. GIFF, the Geneva International Film Festival, in early November — film premieres and closed after-parties at Bains des Pâquis, Hotel d'Angleterre, on yachts in the harbour. Art Genève in late January, at Palexpo, four days of contemporary art, a more intimate format and a thinner audience.

The Geneva Motor Show, when it returns at full scale, adds another spring week with a load similar to the watch fair. Summer in Geneva is low season: the diplomatic corps is away, bankers are on the Côte d'Azur, Cologny empties. August brings Fêtes de Genève on the lakefront with fireworks and Festival de la Cité in Lausanne nearby — not our format, but the city wakes up in those days.

Where we work

Rive Droite is the main zone. Quai du Mont-Blanc, Quai des Bergues, Quai Turrettini, Quai Wilson — our hotels stand along this embankment one after another: Beau-Rivage, Hotel d'Angleterre, The Woodward, Mandarin Oriental, Four Seasons des Bergues. Anywhere central is ten minutes on foot, Palexpo is seven by taxi.

Cologny and Vésenaz — private villas and estates on the right bank of the lake, an out-of-centre run with transfer is agreed separately, minimum a day ahead. Satigny is the direction toward Domaine de Châteauvieux, Philippe Chevrier's two-Michelin-starred restaurant; clients drive there for dinner, around half an hour from the centre. Carouge — an artistic district on the left bank, for intimate evenings in small restaurants.

Trips beyond the canton are routine: Lausanne (45 minutes by train or car), Montreux, Gstaad in winter, Courchevel in high ski season. Côte d'Azur is a separate "weekend" scenario, usually three to four days, agreed at minimum a week ahead.

Etiquette and dress code

Geneva is a diplomatic city in the most literal sense: the UN, WTO, WHO, WIPO, the headquarters of the Red Cross on Avenue de la Paix. The etiquette here is finer than in London and noticeably more restrained than in Dubai. There are no loud scenes in the lobby of Beau-Rivage, and our job is to keep it that way.

French is the first language. English is mandatory. Italian, German, Russian — selectively. At diplomatic dinners and at Le Chat Botté the model arrives in a calm evening format: long or midi, minimum jewellery, no social-media gloss. At Bayview by Michel Roth and Il Lago — the same, plus an understanding of Swiss and Burgundy wine lists at least at a basic level.

For the watch week at Palexpo the format is business: suit, restrained accessories, an understanding that Watches & Wonders is about craft, not display. Watch collectors notice things like that. At Pictet or Lombard Odier receptions — banking etiquette, caution in conversations about money, no questions about the client's portfolio.

Things we say plainly

Prices in Geneva are higher than in most of our European cities. The standard tier — from $1,200 for two hours, $1,500 for four, $2,500 for a night, $4,000 for twenty-four hours, $6,000 for two days. The media segment — $3,500 for two hours, $5,000 for four. We don't move these figures after agreement, and there's no haggling after the meeting here — the clientele is too sensitive for that kind of conversation.

We don't take requests under two hours — in Geneva that's especially inflexible, because the transfer along the right bank plus dinner is already an hour and a half on its own. Mass events without a specific personal client — not our format. Sharing model photos with third parties is forbidden; in a diplomatic environment it's a question of reputation, and we treat it more strictly here than anywhere else.

Twelve years in the industry and forty-eight cities in the network — that isn't marketing, it's the reason Swiss private clientele works with us for years.