Galli Uhren Bijouterie AG
Theaterstrasse 16, on Bellevue
CH-8001 Zurich
Tel: +41 44 262 04 10
Fax: +41 44 252 49 96
Learn more about the history of Galli
1859 - 1881
Paul Galli
Paul Galli came into the world in Königsberg on December 2, 1859. He learned watchmaking in the house next door, presumably in the watch shop owned by Louis Futter. His apprenticeship, during which he had to wind the entire town’s public clocks including the tower clock on St. Mary’s church, lasted from 1874 to 1877.
With his schooling behind him, he began his years as an itinerant watchmaker. As was still customary in those days, these were journeys made on foot. When the money ran out, he would hire on as a watchmaker at any place along his itinerary that he could. Wherever he hired on, the local mayor would personally sign his certificate.
He crisscrossed Germany, wound up on the seacoast and from there he crossed over to North America.
1926 - 1972
Max Galli
Max Galli had his first experience among watchmakers when he was still just a lad, because the watchmaking workshop was housed in his father’s home. This is how he described his “first experience with watchmaking” in the Galli family chronicle: “So as to give me a deep look into the secrets of the trade, one day an assistant let me take a whiff of the ammonium chloride bottle. I could barely breathe and Dora, our domestic, came running in response to my cries. She gave the watchmakers a piece of her mind, and, as for me, I had enough of watchmaking for a while.”
