Goldschmiede Andreas Merli

Andreas Merli runs his goldsmith workshop alone, from a single address in the Rösslizentrum on Forchstrasse 149, 8132 Egg bei Zürich, out at the far end of the Forchbahn line where it leaves the city for the Zürcher Oberland. He opened the business in 2017, after a good 15 years working as a goldsmith for other houses first. That solo setup is the whole point of the place: there is one craftsman, one workbench, and every commission or repair goes through the same hands from the first sketch to the final polish, rather than being handed between a salesperson and a workshop somewhere behind the counter.

His path before going independent reads like a short tour of the trade in this part of Switzerland: Furrer-Jacot's own workshop in Schaffhausen, then Obsession in Wetzikon, then Les Millionaires in Zürich. The Furrer-Jacot stint matters for anyone shopping here specifically for a wedding or engagement ring, because the relationship with that brand is not a reseller arrangement struck up after the fact. Merli trained inside that house before he ever put its rings on his own shelf, and he still sells Furrer-Jacot's wedding, engagement and commitment rings today, each one described on his own site as cast in precious-metal alloys and finished as a single unique piece rather than pulled from a stock run.

Merli frames the pull between old and new technique as, in his own words, "die Herausforderung der heutigen Zeit", the challenge of the present day, pairing traditional goldsmithing with laser welding of precious metals and of materials like carbon and hybrid ceramic. The shop's tagline is more direct: "Ihr Schmuck, Ihr Stil", your jewellery, your style. Neither line promises much by itself, but set against the specific employment history above it reads as an actual working method rather than marketing filler: techniques learned the traditional way over 15 years as an employee, then applied under his own name from 2017 onward.

The other named line is Pedro Hunziker, and here the pitch is exclusivity rather than pedigree. Merli's site states plainly that Hunziker's handmade pieces are available in the Zürcher Oberland only through this workshop. The sample pieces shown are concrete rather than generic: blackened steel set against 750 rose gold and 750 white gold, agate, and diamonds, so a browsing visitor gets a real sense of the house style before booking a look at the actual cabinet.

Beyond the two named brands, the workshop's own output covers rings, necklaces, earrings and bracelets, plus repairs, resizing, repolishing, and replacing a lost stone, and reworking an older piece that has stopped getting worn into something that will get worn again. Merli lists his working materials as gold, silver and gemstones "ebenso wie Karbon oder Keramik", carbon and ceramic alongside the precious metals. For an expat weighing a low-maintenance carbon or ceramic band next to a more traditional Furrer-Jacot ring for the ceremony itself, that combination is worth raising directly at a first appointment, since it is not spelled out as a packaged option anywhere on the site.

Getting there and getting seen

The shop keeps posted hours of Tuesday to Friday, 9.00 to 12.00 and 13.00 to 18.30, and Saturday 9.00 to 16.00, with anything outside that by arrangement. Merli asks visitors to book ahead, in part because he currently receives one party at a time, so a booked slot buys undivided attention rather than a shared counter with another customer waiting. The address puts the workshop between a café and a flower shop inside the Rösslizentrum, with the Egg stop on the Forchbahn line sitting directly opposite the centre. From Zürich Stadelhofen that is a direct ride on the Forchbahn; from Uster it is a connecting bus followed by the same line. Drivers coming from Zürich or Rapperswil follow the Forchautobahn into Egg and can use the underground garage, entered between the town hall and the Rössli centre.

This category groups the Gold Coast towns from Küsnacht down through Wädenswil and Stäfa with the Oberland further inland around Uster and Wetzikon precisely because neither sub-region alone turns up enough verified, independent goldsmith supply to stand on its own, and this workshop is a clean example of the kind of business a city-only search misses. There is no storefront on a main shopping street, no multilingual marketing push, just a working goldsmith a tram ride from Stadelhofen who happens to hold the regional exclusive on one brand and direct training from another.

Who this suits

Set against the multi-staff boutiques closer to central Zürich, a one-person Goldschmiede like this one trades scale for direct access: the person who designs the ring is the same person who sizes it, repairs it, and answers the phone. The upside of that structure is practical rather than a language guarantee: a call or an email reaches the same person doing the fitting, not a general shop line routed through several staff, even without any published confirmation of which languages that call gets answered in.

His site is German only, front to back. The navigation reads Willkommen, Schmuck, Service, Über mich and Kontakt, and none of it is offered in English or any other language. That is worth knowing before making the trip out from central Zürich: this listing found no confirmation either way of whether a consultation can be run in English, so anyone who needs that should ask when booking rather than assume it. Prices, commission timelines and any guarantee on repair work are likewise not published anywhere on the site, which is ordinary for a workshop that prices a commission after seeing the brief and the customer rather than off a rate card, but it does mean a first call or email is a prerequisite step rather than an optional one. There is no online shop and nothing published about shipping abroad, so this workshop suits someone already living in or visiting the Zürich area who wants an in-person consultation, more than someone trying to order a ring remotely from outside Switzerland.

The verdict is a credentialed, specific alternative to the bigger Bahnhofstrasse names: a goldsmith who trained at Furrer-Jacot itself before selling its rings under his own roof, the only Oberland stockist of Pedro Hunziker's handmade pieces, and a one-on-one appointment instead of a queue at a counter. The German-only site and the absence of published pricing or lead times are real gaps for an international buyer doing research from a phone screen, but neither one is a reason to skip a workshop with this much first-hand craft behind it. It is a reason to call or write ahead, in whichever language you open with, and confirm the details this site does not spell out before making the trip out to Egg.