If there’s one thing I love about the world of horology, it’s the amount of meticulous manual work that goes into making those tickers we all love. Regardless of which brand’s manufacture you visit, you’ll notice all sorts of CNC machines and other state of the art equipment and tools that make watch production that much easier. Even the design of watches, movements and their components are carried out with the aid CAD programs and 3D renderings.
Yet at the same time, the principles and theories of horology have been the same for centuries, and apart from a hanful of advancements made possible through advancements in materials science and micro-mechanics, a watch’s movement still operates the same way. So it makes you wonder, how on earth did watchmakers make their watches in a time when they didn’t even have electricity?
Well, JEANRICHARD has got the answer. Nestled right in the heart of La Chaux-de-Fonds in a historical building known among locals as the “Château” (French for castle) that dates back to 1908, JEANRICHARD has set up its Museum of Watchmaking Machinery and Tools, a one-floor space where one can admire some of the earliest rudimentary tools watchmakers used in the past few centuries, with objects spanning from the 17th century to the early 20th century.
It’s quite fitting that it’s the JEANRICHARD brand that has created such a space, as Daniel Jean-Richard is regarded as the pioneer and founder of the Neuchâtelois watchmaking industry from back in the 17th century. There’s even a statue of him erected in the town of Le Locle.
The museum houses over 100 different items including setting and topping tools, engraving chisels, moving components production machines and even a workshop. The artefacts were left in their original condition, allowing the visitor to truly travel back to simpler times.
There’s even a library with over 1000 works covering some of the earliest theories and designs, with some of them dating back to the 18th century.
The Sowind Group (parent company of Girard Perregaux and JEANRICHARD) have also incorporated a training facility within the museum, allowing aspiring watchmakers to train a in a space where past and present exist in harmony.
So if you ever find yourself in the Neuchatel cradle of watchmaking that is La Chaux-de-Fonds, be sure to check out the JEANRICHARD Museum of Watchmaking Machinery and Tools.
Fore more information and to book an appointment to visit the museum, head to www.jeanrichard.com
