Uhrenmuseum Beyer Zürich

This guide to the Uhrenmuseum Beyer in Zurich takes you down a narrow staircase behind the Beyer boutique on Bahnhofstrasse, into a windowless basement built to hide watches rather than sell them. It follows Theodor Beyer, born in 1926, who spent his life collecting timekeepers nobody else wanted, from sundials to water clocks, until his family's cellar became a vault for the obsession in 1971. Along the way you'll meet an ancient Egyptian water clock and a gold automaton lion that rolls its eyes when wound. Look closely at the case fronts before you move on, since nothing here is behind unbreakable glass.