The "Watch Valley" covers all the Swiss Jura Arc, from

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

, and is the primary location of the Swiss

watch A watch is a timepiece carried or worn by a person. It is designed to maintain a consistent movement despite the motions caused by the person's activities. A wristwatch is worn around the wrist, attached by a watch strap or another type of ...

-making industry. Beginning initially in 15th century Geneva, the cradle of the European time keeping industry, and spreading north east through the

Jura Mountains The Jura Mountains ( ) are a sub-alpine mountain range a short distance north of the Western Alps and mainly demarcate a long part of the French–Swiss border. While the Jura range proper (" folded Jura", ) is located in France and Switzerla ...

, the great majority of the companies related to the Swiss watch-making industry were first established. Continuing to the present day, centuries of tradition, rigor, and the know-how of skilled artisans, has forged the world recognized reputation of the great Swiss watch houses. Some of the watchmakers currently producing in the Watch Valley include

OMEGA Omega (, ; uppercase Ω, lowercase ω; Ancient Greek ὦ, later ὦ μέγα, Modern Greek ωμέγα) is the twenty-fourth and last letter in the Greek alphabet. In the Greek numerals, Greek numeric system/isopsephy (gematria), it has a value ...

, Breitling, Corum, Gallet, Girard-Perregaux, Patek Philippe,

Rolex Rolex () is a Swiss watch brand and manufacturer based in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in 1905 as ''Wilsdorf and Davis'' by German businessman Hans Wilsdorf and his eventual brother-in-law Alfred Davis in London, the company registered ''Rolex ...

, TAG Heuer, Blancpain, Ulysse Nardin, Chopard, Baume & Mercier, and others. Some of the earliest watchmakers to manufacture timepieces in the Watch Valley were Vacheron Constantin (Est. 1755), Breguet (Est. 1775), Blancpain (*Est. 1735), Jaquet Droz (Est. 1738 in La Chaux-de-Fonds). Abraham-Louis Breguet played a great role in the advancement in watch technology. In 1790 Breguet invented arguably the most important invention for watches to date. It was a shock-absorber known as the “para-chute” which helped prevent delicate parts in a watch from breaking when dropped. This greatly improved the accuracy and dependability of watches at that time and paved the road to what we see in current timepieces. Honorable Mention:

Favre-Leuba Favre-Leuba is a Swiss luxury wristwatch manufacturer headquartered in Grenchen, Switzerland, and formerly a pioneer in watch design, manufacturing and distribution. The brand was established in 1737, following the registration of Abraham Favre ...

(Est. 1737 in Le Locle) was a mid-higher end range maker of Swiss watches. They used many different movements from A.Schild SA as well as calibers produced In-House. They worked with Girard-Perregaux,

Zodiac The zodiac is a belt-shaped region of the sky that extends approximately 8° north and south celestial latitude of the ecliptic – the apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year. Within this zodiac ...

Ebel The ICE Hockey League (International Central European Hockey League, ICEHL), known as the win2day ICE Hockey League for sponsorship reasons, is a Central European hockey league that also serves as the top-tier ice hockey league in Austria. It c ...

, and others to create a 36,000 VPH movement based on the A.Schild Caliber 1687. While the name is still being used on watches today they are not the same company as it succumbed to the

Quartz crisis The quartz crisis (Swiss) or quartz revolution (America, Japan and other countries) was the upheaval in the watchmaking industry caused by the advent of quartz watches in the 1970s and early 1980s, that largely replaced mechanical watches aroun ...

and were forced to sell the company in the 1980’s. *While some argue Blancpain is the oldest watchmaker, they did have a brief period where production was stopped, while Vacheron did not. The distance across the watch Valley, traveling from Geneva to Basel, is approximately {{convert, 200, km, mi, sp=us.

UNESCO World Heritage Sites

Both

Le Locle Le Locle (; ) is a Communes of Switzerland, municipality in the Canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. It is situated in the Jura Mountains, a few kilometers from the city of La Chaux-de-Fonds. It is the third smallest city in Switzerland (in Swit ...

and its geographical twin town

La Chaux-de-Fonds La Chaux-de-Fonds (; archaic ) is a Swiss city in the canton of Neuchâtel. It is located in the Jura Mountains at an altitude of 992 metres, a few kilometres south of the French border. After Geneva, Lausanne, Biel/Bienne, and Fribourg, ...

have now been recognised as an UNESCO

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

, for their horological and related cultural past.

Notes

External links

UNESCO World Heritage List: La Chaux-de-Fonds / Le Locle, Watchmaking Town PlanningFederation of the Swiss Watch Industry FH
Switzerland Tourism

''juradreiseenland.ch'' Economy of Switzerland Horology Swiss Jura

UNESCO World Heritage Sites

See also

Notes

External links