International Watchmaking Museum in Switzerland

As the historians in our time were want to say, "Time does not stand till; neither do the makers of watches." This we learned at the end our vacation in Switzerland at La Chaux-de-Fonds in the canton of Neuchatel at the western tip of Switzerland. There for two whole days my wife and I rested our weary bones after a three week holiday by enjoying a walk through the scenic view all around the town, taking the fresh and clear air of the Jura mountains, tasting the delights of good fare offfered by the restaurants, and saying 'Bon Jour' to the goodly citizens. Yet there was time to do a bit of sightseeng, namely visiting International Watchmaking Museum in the city and see their collection of clocks and watches, interest ourselves in the manufacture of time pieces, and to learn about watch making in Switzerland. www.mih.ch

It was quite easy to find the museum, as a carillon stands at the entrance to the museum and every fifteen minutes little hammers strike the twelve bells of the carillon, playing lively tunes, according to the season. Truly it is a work of art, but a functioning clock as well, hidden in a stainless steel casing using color, light and sound as it chimes the quarter hour. No need of glasses to read the characters on the digital clock, as the large numerals shine brightly.

The exhibition in the museum was enlightening and quite interesting. We were able to understand that the watch is a very complex item, and it requires a number of quite different skills to take it from the designer's board to the wearer's wrist. It was astonishing to learn that a simple mechanical watch contains roughly 130 components. More complex watches contain hundreds of parts; a complex watch displays much more information than simply the time of day, such as the week and day etc.. Nearly ninety per cent of the watches made in Switzerland are electronic, but mechanical watches are still manufactured.

Traditions plays a great part in the Swiss watch making industry. A good deal of the work is carried out by workshops and small factories, which make the components and to others where the watches are assembled; the company that assembles the basic parts, adding extra components known as 'complications' and sells the final product under its own name. The watches of different brand names can range from from sober classic, through diamond-studded, to cheap and cheerful.

Swiss watchmaking started in the sixteenth century in the city of Geneva developing through the years. More than one hundred clock and watchmakers are recorded as working in this city in 1686 and their overall production amounted to five thousand watches per anum. At the same time, watchmaking also developed in various other places in the Jura mountain area, notably in the towns and cities of Neuchtal, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Le locle, Fleurier and Travers.

The development of Swiss watchmaking throughout out the eighteenteenth century followed the commercial outlets throughout the world, despite British competition, which challenged the Swiss for markets. Commercial expansion was in the favor of Swiss watch makers by their relatively low sales price. During the nineteenth century, this advantage was further improved by mechanized production and establishment of small factories. Swiss watchmakers attained a dominant position in the manufacture of watches by having a leading position in technical skills.

The largest center of watchmaking was Geneva, where in 1869, seven thousand skilled workers were involved in the horological industry. Other active workshops in other towns also produced chronometers, precision watches and ordinary watches. The Canton of Vaud in the Joux Valley attained the skill in the production of 'ebuaches' (rough movements) used in the process of making highly complicated watches.

The nineteenth and early twentieth centuries saw the rise of of firms which are well known to this very day. These included Audemars-Piguet, Patek Phillips, Girard-Perregaux, Longines, Omega, Rolex and Ebel. www.swissworld.org

Marc Chagall, French artist coined an appropriate saying, "Time is a river without banks." And for my wife and myself the minutes and hours were overflowing and passing by in our tour and it was time to take leave of this fascinating watchmaking musem and to return to our hotel.

NOTE:
1) The Swiss watchmaking industry today is concentrated in western Switzerland, in an area formed by the Jura mountains which stretch from Geneva in the south to Basel in the north, called by the Ministry of Tourism the 'Watch Valley'.
2) Swiss watchmaking terminology:
a. 'etablisseur' - a firm that buys the basics parts, assembles them and sell it under it own brand name.
b. 'termineur' - an independendent workshops under contract to a company which supplies the components, then assembles the watches and sells the final product under the required brand name.
c. "ebauche' - a set of sixty parts that makes up most of the internal mechanism of the watch.

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