Gion Mathias Cavelty: «Die Geschichte der Schweizer Uhrmacherkunst»

In 13004 BC, Lionel Breitling, a 37-year-old fire insurance agent from Grenchen, noticed that the sun rises and sets at more or less regular intervals – and begins to throw a hazelnut stick called Navitimer into the air just in time for sunrise. With this observation, as precise as it is absurd, Gion Mathias Cavelty sets in motion the big bang of a completely invented chronology. Cavelty provides answers to questions such as: Why is the clock called a clock? What were the Breguet chest hair wars? Who is the biggest pig in the Swiss watch scene? Does the God particle drive really exist? The chronology escalates continuously: from Breitling's mental hospital to Hublot's adventurous escape from the Aztec Empire to Omega Cubitus, who stops in an audience with the god-emperor Piponzio.

Gion Mathias Cavelty (*1974 in Chur) is a writer, satirist and master of cultivated madness. He studied Italian, English and Romansh and published his first novel with Suhrkamp at the age of 23. Since then, he has been writing novels, plays, radio plays, columns and texts for radio, television and newspapers. His anti-guidebook "Endlich NichtLeser" (Finally Non-Readers) became a minor scandal, his novel "Innocent. Legend" was awarded the Graubünden Literature Prize. In 2025, Cavelty received the Recognition Award of the City of Chur. He lives in Zurich.