Musée International d'Horlogerie La Chaux-de-Fonds

Ed. W's travelogue recounts a horological pilgrimage to La Chaux-de-Fonds, focusing on the Musée International d'Horlogerie (MIH). This account provides practical travel details and personal reflections, offering a valuable guide for watch enthusiasts planning a visit to this significant Swiss watchmaking hub and its surrounding areas.

Vallée de Joux, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Glashütte aren't the first places that come to the traveller's mind. But these places ring with the familiarity of home for watch enthusiasts. This May I had the pleasure of taking a trip to Le Locle, which allowed me two hours at the Musée International d'Horlogerie in La Chaux-de-Fonds (LCDF). In order to get to LCDF from Geneva, the Inter-Regio train will take you from Geneva to Neuchâtel in about 80 minutes, from there take the Regio Express to LCDF which takes a little under half an hour. 

Taking advantage of the microscope: Natural history museum in Neuchatel

Bergeon Headquarters in Le Locle (very surprised it's not bright yellow)

Our trip included a detour to Le Locle 30 minutes regio express (RE) train ride from LCDF in order to make a purchase from my favourite horological tool maker, Bergeon. The train ride from Neuchatel stops at LCDF before going to Le Locle, passing through a few familiar names including Patek Philippe, Cartier, Jaquet Droz, Sellita (the ebauche maker), and Stryker (surgical implants).

 Patek and J*D

Sellita Ebauche

The museum is a short 10 minute walk from the LCDF train station, there are a few antique horology shops nearby offering various artifacts from tools to old displays from the 1950's, but I didn't see anything really worth buying. The entrance is built into a hill, making the place look a bit reclusive and library-like, there was sone construction going on at the entrance so we didn't linger in the rain longer than necessary. Museum admission is 15 CHF for adults and 10 CHF for students under 25 years old, an electronic tour guide is only 2 CHF and highly recommended. Lockers are free to use.

A panorama of the entrance (click for huge)

The lobby area filled with watches from sponsoring watchmakers including Swatch group (Glashutte Original, Breguet, Blancpain) and other companies (Vacheron, Ulysse Nardin, etc.) The MIH watch is available for sale for 6000 CHF in the museum shop which offers a selection of just-for-fun horology as well as more serious pieces including a fews Reuge music boxes. The selection of books is also quite good and include the latest George Daniels book. 

Entering the museum proper is a straight descent into the horological rabbit hole. There are timepieces from all throughout history from Clepsydras (water clocks) from 5000 years ago up to the the Ulysse Nardin Astrolabium by curator Ludwig Oechslin. There is also much for the horologically uninitiated, including teaching models, easy to understand background information, and animations. One of the best features of the museum is the fact that almost all the clocks are running. 

The first Swiss quartz clock

Incense based timer from China

A few of my favourite pieces are pictured below. There's not much else to say other than it's more than worth the trip there, prepare to spend at least 2 hours learning about the huge collection.

A very familiar slogan on a single-geared clock from the 1800's

A marine chronometer by Ulysse Nardin, this one featured a quartz attachment for adjustment

A clepsydra model, do not touch the water no matter what, it smells absolutely terrible

GP Three Golden Bridges, the museum houses many important modern watches

An extra large, working escapement model with overcoil

Engraver's tools

Engraving

Various watchmaking tools