In Le Locle, the Watch Museum displays clocks, watches, automata and marine chronometers in the Château des Monts, a Louis XVI residence. You explore three floors and nine rooms devoted to time, as well as an English-style park that is part of the visit.
Watchmaking
Main highlights
- Horological collections of clocks, watches, automata and marine chronometers drawn from donations
- Singing bird mirror by the Rochat Brothers, early 19th century, the museum’s centrepiece
- Louis XVI château built between 1780 and 1790, surrounded by an English-style park open to visitors
Overview
The Le Locle Watch Museum is housed in the Château des Monts, a Louis XVI-style residence built between 1780 and 1790 for Samuel Dubois, an officer, watchmaker and sworn assayer. The building is probably the work of the Lausanne architect Gabriel Delagrange. It overlooks the town, set in an English-style park laid out in the early 20th century.
The town of Le Locle bought the estate in 1954 and installed its History and Watchmaking museums there. The collections occupy three floors and nine rooms. They trace more than 500 years of Le Locle’s watchmaking history, with tours designed to be followed without any prior knowledge.
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What to see and do
The ground floor presents the different eras of Le Locle and the social and economic context that enabled watchmaking to flourish in the Neuchâtel Mountains. The first floor brings together the collections of Maurice Yves Sandoz, Alfred Huguenin, Henri Jeanmaire and Frédéric Savoye : clocks and automata, including the singing bird mirror by the Rochat Brothers.
The top floor approaches time from a philosophical angle : how it is perceived, divided and measured. Films and themed tours accompany this section. A viewable restoration workshop lets you watch restorer watchmakers at work.
For families, quizzes, observation games, creative activities and investigations fill the rooms. Children can make a wall clock or play watchmaker-detectives. “Meurtre au château” (Murder at the Château) is a life-size board game set in the château’s corridors.
Practical information
Getting there : bus line 341, “Monts” stop. On foot from the station, about 20 minutes and a 100 m climb along a paved forest path signposted “Château des Monts”.
Visit duration : at least 2 hours.
Suitable for : families, children and teenagers thanks to the games and investigations, and watchmaking enthusiasts.
Accessibility : the museum is accessible to people with reduced mobility, with lift access to all floors.
Visiting tips
The visit is self-guided, with no set route : start with the park or the rooms as you prefer. With children, ask at reception about the games available, especially the “Meurtre au château” investigation, popular with teenagers.
Nearby
- The Le Locle Fine Arts Museum brings together fine arts, graphic arts and contemporary works.
- The Col-des-Roches Underground Mills house old hydraulic mechanisms in galleries carved into the rock.
- The Saut du Doubs is a waterfall on the French-Swiss border, to be explored on foot or by boat.
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