About Last Sunday

When my alarm rang at 5 am on Sunday morning, I wasn’t sure how to feel – aside from tired. I was excited, but also pretty anxious. What if, 4 hours later, no one showed up? What if the 56 watches on sale – even more were donated but we set some aside after technical inspection – would all be left with me when the event ended, at 4 pm? What would I tell the generous donors who trusted me with their timepieces? What would I tell Terre des hommes, the leading Swiss organization for children’s rights, for which we were raising the funds?

The truth is, there was no way to know. Sure, a few people had told me they’d drop by. But we’ve all been there: intention and action, over the weekend, with family obligations and holiday preparation, can sometimes end up far apart. Also, showing up didn’t necessarily mean making a purchase, no matter how attractive the prices. To make things more challenging, the Christmas market on the other side of town had just opened, and the weather was nasty.

At 7 am sharp, when I went to pick up the large order of chouquettes I’d ordered for the event at Charlotte’s – my goto bakery in Bienne – I was energized: the eponymous owner had graciously insisted on not charging me for the order, as her contribution to the initative. A few minutes later, at 7.15, when the first person knocked on the door of my wife’s showroom, converted for the day, I was stunned.

The doors were not meant to open for almost another 2 hours. I had barely begun setting things up. Before 8, I’d already handed out the ticket with a number 2 on it. Eventually, Salimatou, my wife, had to start making more tickets while Dario (above) and I were trying to keep in check the watches, and the people, as opening time was approaching. When things officially kicked off, more than 50 people – coming from Bienne but also Zurich, Lausanne, Yverdon-les-Bains and the Jura canton – were waiting for their turn.

It was a joy to see all the interest but also a bit crazy because totally unexpected, and not easy to manage with zero experience. The packed crowd, people grabbing watches to try them on, cash changing hands in all directions, Twints being sent on three different accounts (due to individual limits in how much can be received)… I was totally losing the plot. People knew what they wanted, most of them having carefully studied the catalogue, further accelerating the wild pace. Without Dario, and his professional muscle memory from numerous watch trade fairs, and generally running a watchmaking workshop, it would have been total chaos. He probably handled twice as many sales as I did over the same period of time. 

In my haste, I forgot to include the Terre des hommes brochure in about half of the bags I handed out. The good thing though about people having to wait for their turn was that they could spend time listening to Isabel Zbinden. The Terre des hommes Content Strategist, and my main contact there, answered dozens of questions about the organization and its work. 

After one hour, we had only 18 watches left. Throughout the day, it was a lot more calm (and manageable!). We sold another dozen or so. Then, over the next couple of days, we did “after-hours trading”, securing the sale of every single piece aside from one. Combined with a few accessories sold during the event, we ended up with a total of 20,219 CHF. More than twice the target amount! (Dec 20 update: the last watch was sold, so we ended up at 20,329 CHF collected 🙂)

The outcome exceeding all our expectations is a huge motivation for doing a second edition next year. The date is already set: Sunday, December 7, 2025. We’ll be meeting with Isabel from Terre des hommes early January to debrief and start planning the next edition. Until then, starting with her for being such a great partner, I’d like to thank everyone who has contributed to making this first edition a success (in alphabetical order): Alexis, Alfio, Arthur, Carlotta, Charles-Louis, Charlotte, Danny, Dario, Lamine, Isabel, Joël, Jennifer, Julien D, Julien S, Luigi, Nicolas, Marc A, Marc M, Margery (my Mom), Miguel, Natacha, Pierre, Raphaël, Salimatou (my wife), Séverine, Simone and Stéphane. It truly took a village to make it happen. Thank you also to everyone who popped by, showing your support. If you purchased a watch, I wish you a lot of happiness wearing it, or gifting in. Merci beaucoup à toutes et à tous.

Happy holidays everyone, I look forward to seeing you again here next year.