The Watch Museum of Le Locle ( French: Musée d'Horlogerie du Locle) is a municipal museum specializing in

horology Horology (; related to Latin '; ; , interfix ''-o-'', and suffix ''-logy''), . is the study of the measurement of time. Clocks, watches, clockwork, sundials, hourglasses, clepsydras, timers, time recorders, marine chronometers, and atomic cl ...

, located in

Le Locle Le Locle (; german: Luggli) 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 Switz ...

Canton of Neuchâtel The Republic and Canton of Neuchâtel (french: République et Canton de Neuchâtel); rm, Chantun Neuchâtel; it, Cantone di Neuchâtel is a French-speaking canton in western Switzerland. In 2007, its population was 169,782, of whom 39,654 (o ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. It is open to the public. The museum is located in a small historic country manor house, called 'Château des Monts', about one kilometer north of the city center, on a hill. Most visitors combine a visit to this museum with the other world-class horological museum in the region the

Musée international d'horlogerie The International Museum of Horology, french: Musée international d'horlogerie, italic=no, is a horology, horological museum in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. It is owned and operated by the city of La Chaux-de-Fonds. History In 1865 the Wat ...

La Chaux-de-Fonds La Chaux-de-Fonds () is a Swiss city in the canton of Neuchâtel. It is located in the Jura mountains at an altitude of 1000 m, a few kilometers south of the French border. After Geneva, Lausanne and Fribourg, it is the fourth largest city loc ...

, a few kilometers further east.

Collection

The core of the museum collection is made up of several important legacies: *The Collection Maurice Yves Sandoz; the collection is particularly rich in Swiss-made

automaton An automaton (; plural: automata or automatons) is a relatively self-operating machine, or control mechanism designed to automatically follow a sequence of operations, or respond to predetermined instructions.Automaton – Definition and More ...

s from the 18th and 19th century, many including mechanical music or singing bird automatons. *The Collection Henri Jeanmaire; the strength of this collection is the marquetry clock cases by

Charles André Boulle Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...

in the

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Vers ...

era. *The Collection Alfred Huguenin, focusing on the history of the Neuchâtel style pendule. In these three specialized areas of horological history, several of the exhibited pieces are among the best specimens globally that are on display to the public. On the ground floor there also is a highly concentrated comprehensive technical history of the

watch A watch is a portable timepiece intended to be carried or worn by a person. It is designed to keep a consistent movement despite the motions caused by the person's activities. A wristwatch is designed to be worn around the wrist, attached by ...

movement Movement may refer to: Common uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Motion, commonly referred to as movement Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * "Movement" (short story), a short story by Nancy Fu ...

. The museum features also a small auditorium where a video presentation allows visitors to witness the exhibited

s in action. The park-like garden features several sundials and larger, sculptural clocks, including a replica of the

Elephant clock The elephant clock was a model of water clock invented by the medieval Islamic engineer Ismail al-Jazari (1136–1206). Its design was detailed in his book, ''The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices.'' Representation of multicultur ...

al-Jazari Badīʿ az-Zaman Abu l-ʿIzz ibn Ismāʿīl ibn ar-Razāz al-Jazarī (1136–1206, ar, بديع الزمان أَبُ اَلْعِزِ إبْنُ إسْماعِيلِ إبْنُ الرِّزاز الجزري, ) was a polymath: a scholar, ...

. At most times there is at least one additional temporary exhibition on a horological theme. The museum has an excellent horological library, incorporating the research archives of the Swiss horological scholar and historian

Alfred Chapuis Alfred may refer to: Arts and entertainment *'' Alfred J. Kwak'', Dutch-German-Japanese anime television series * ''Alfred'' (Arne opera), a 1740 masque by Thomas Arne * ''Alfred'' (Dvořák), an 1870 opera by Antonín Dvořák *"Alfred (Interl ...

, and the former library of the French horological author

Tardy Tardiness is the habit of being late or delaying arrival. Being late as a form of misconduct may be formally punishable in various arrangements, such as workplace, school, etc. An opposite personality trait is punctuality. Workplace tardiness ...

. The library is open for horological scholars by appointment only.

Events

An biannual chronometry competition was organized by the museum since 2009.Watch Museum of Le Locle: International Chronometry Contest 2009
on www.europastar.com, official website
International Chronometry Contest
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References

Bibliography

* * *

External links

French">Musée d'Horlogerie du Locle, Château des Monts (Website available in French
, German and English) {{DEFAULTSORT:Musee d'Horlogerie du Locle Horological museums in Switzerland Le Locle Museums in the canton of Neuchâtel

Collection

Events

See also

References

Bibliography

External links