Our best ever intern has grown up! Elise rejoins the team for Geneva Watch Days, and picks her five favourite watches
Andrew McUtchenIf you could have gone back in time five years to the chateau of Franck Muller, on the shores of Lake Geneva and told both Elise Durr and I that one day she would be walking around the city, reporting on a watch fair for us at Time+Tide I’m not sure who would have been more surprised.
At that time, in 2016, Elise worked for Franck Muller. She was an intern, in fact. I was doing what I did back then. Which is travel to watch fairs, spending more of my life abroad than my wife and then very young children were comfortable with. I remember the day we met very well.
The impression Elise left on me is best summed up by a question I asked her as she toured me and our cameraman Marcus Flack around the grounds. (As a quick sidebar, if you ever get an opportunity to visit Franck Muller, you should, it’s quite spectacular, especially now, fully renovated with extra chalet-style buildings, filled with watchmakers and high-tech machinery. A couple of years later, I would sit behind some very low-tech machinery to take on a Franck Muller team member in a dial painting challenge. Short story, I was stitched up.)
After being regaled with stories of how everything works, what each part of the manufacture does, in extraordinary detail, I said – no doubt with a look of astonishment – “How many years have you worked here?” The surprise factor was how young Elise looked to know so much. “Six weeks,” she replied. We continued walking. My eyebrows stayed arched. Later, we lunched, and Elise asked questions about life in Australia. A couple of years later, I received an email, and Elise requested an internship at Time+Tide in Melbourne. I was happy to oblige. She was a dream employee – diligent, do-anything, a sponge ready to soak up what life is like on the media side.
Once clearly wasn’t enough. Elise checked in again some time after her first six month internship and politely asked us if we’d have her back for a second internship. In this period, Elise masterminded some great additions and changes on our socials – and was as delightful as always to work with. She also starred in what is, to this day, the greatest piece of watch related content ever created for Valentine’s Day. Come at us!
The next mission, however, would see a change of home ground. I contacted Elise in the lead up to Geneva Watch Days 2021 and asked if she might be interested in joining the team – and what do you know, here we are! For the first time, though, Elise is in front, not behind the camera, and in full flight here as she tells us which watches caught her eye.