On the Trail of Swiss Wachtmaking
Last weekend, I was able to go on an unforgettable trip to an area that is very important for the Swiss watchmaking industry: the Jura & Three Lakes region. Find out why the area in and around the Jura Mountains has made Swiss watchmaking history in this blog post.
The City of Le Locle
Our trip started in Le Locle. This small town in the canton of Neuchâtel, sometimes called the birthplace of the watch industry, was and still is a hub of the watch industry. Due to Le Locle’s elevated position, almost 1000 metres above sea level, the farmers of the 17th century were faced with long and harsh winters. During this cold period, the farmers of the time began to make components for clocks, which they then sold to clockmakers such as Daniel Jean-Richard.
Château de Monts
The watch museum in Le Locle offers an exciting insight into the fascinating history of watchmaking. In addition to impressive watch collections, numerous relics from the past are exhibited in the Château de Monts, documenting the history of watchmaking.
Maison du Bois
The Maison Du Bois is one of the oldest watchmaking houses in Switzerland and inside it is a charmingly furnished bed & breakfast. We also had the pleasure of spending a night in this historic house dating back to 1785.
The overnight stay and breakfast are part of the Explore Swiss Watchmaking experience. Other parts of this interesting package for watch lovers will be explained in more detail in this blog post.
The Zenith Factory
The next morning, we went on to the industrial district of Le Locle. Le Locle is the birthplace of many famous watch brands such as Favre-Leuba, Tissot, Ulysse Nardin and Zenith.
On a guided tour through the Zenith factory halls, we were able to enjoy exciting insights into the development, design and manufacturing processes of the company.
Although many work steps have been replaced by modern machines over the years, a large part of the production still is done by hand.
Zenith offers these tours once a week or on request for groups.
La Chaux-de-Fonds
After visiting the Zenith watch manufactory, we travelled on to the next watchmaking town, La Chaux-de-Fonds.
Ferme des Brandt
Hungry from the morning, we were, even more, looking forward to a delicious, traditional and local meal at the Ferme des Brandt.
Lunch at the Ferme des Brandt is also part of the Explore Swiss Watchmaking experience.
City Tour in La Chaux-de-Fonds
In the afternoon, we set out to explore the city of La Chaux-de-Fonds. We used the virtual guides in the form of tablets available from Espace de l’urbanisme horloger. The interactive city tour takes you to all the important and historic sites for the watchmaking industry.
After completing the tour, we paid a visit to the International Watch Museum, where more than 4500 exhibits can be admired.
Watchmaking Workshop at Centre Horloger
As a crowning finale to our stay in La Chaux-de-Fonds, we went to a watchmaking workshop at the Centre Horloger. Under professional guidance, we received an introduction to the functioning of a mechanical watch.
After the theory came the practice and we were allowed to try our hand at watchmaking ourselves.
Fortunately, a large part of the clock was already pre-assembled, because it took me almost two hours to assemble a few gears and clock hands. This makes you realise how much time and know-how goes into such a mechanical timepiece.
Assembling the watch was the last part of our Explore Swiss Watchmaking experience. However, this package is only one of many, and the packages also come in a wide variety of combinations and variations.
The City of Neuchâtel
To round off our trip, we then went for a delicious lunch, followed by a guided tour of Neuchâtel’s Belle Epoque.
On the guided tour we learned interesting facts about this wonderful city and its magnificent past, which is largely due to the booming watch business.
