Swiss Watch Museum Tour: The International Museum of Horology (MIH) in La Chaux-de-Fonds

Today I'm at the International Museum of Horology (MIH) in La Chaux-de-Fonds. I attended the watch fair here last fall but this is the first time that I actually toured the museum. As a collector it's great to have the opportunity to examine thousands of vintage watches. It's also nice to see what the museum has collected in order to better understand and appreciate historical importance as opposed to hype and marketing.

See the chapter index below to skip to the parts that interest you. If you're a watchmaker or an aspiring watchmaker you won't want to miss their restoration workshop starting at 19:24.

Musée international d'horlogerie
Rue des Musées 29, 2300 La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland

chapters:
00:00 intro
00:22 Meridian telescope built in 1913 by SGIP in Geneva. This was not only used to set the time of earthly clocks, but also to time the transit of celestial bodies across the meridian circle to determine and record their positions and distance.
01:24 modern geospatial timekeeping devices from GPS to the iPhone
01:39 traveling down the ramp to the displays on the second floor
02:05 second floor display close-ups - pocket watches and movements
04:15 mechanical contraption made to study / demonstrate the isochronism of the balance with balance spring
04:29 skeleton watches
04:50 automatic watch movements including the tiny Ligne 6''' (13.5mm diameter) A. Schild AS 1775
05:40 second floor display area with bench viewing cabinets - this is fantastic as you can actually sit down and look directly at the watches and movements at very close distance
06:27 quarter repeater pocket watches and wrist watches including a very small Blancpain (Le Brassus) hour, quarter, and minute repeater gold wristwatch
08:22 stages of assembly of the Swatch and a boxed 99,999,998th commemorative (100 million Swatches sold) signed by Nicolas Hayek April 7, 1992. The watch museum in Le Locle has number 99,999,996!
08:52 more Swatches on the ramp down to the first floor
09:44 Swatch "Metrica" GK 263 incorporating a working tape measure into its band. This is one of my favorite Swatches because it incorporates text "New Time Measurements" and the metric scale numbers, is yellow, and graphically screams "tool watch" quite literally (and I love tool watches).
10:03 Ingersoll Mickey Mouse watch and two Lip watches from nearby France.
10:14 Kif, Incabloc, Monorex, Trishock and Seitz Ruby-Shock shock setting oversized models
10:36 Paul Ditisheim pocket watch with an oversized model of a balance wheel incorporating a J. Depolleir & Son New York shock absorber.
10:44 Rolex early waterproof and submariner watches and Rolex waterproof testing chamber
11:03 Abraham-Louis Breguet pocket watches with open movements
13:55 pocket watches with complications - James Nardin (cousin of Ulysse Nardin) circa 1880 lever chronometer watch with perpetual calendar, moon phase and retrograde date indicator
14:19 Charles-Henry Audemars circa 1880 keyless astronomical minute-repeating watch with perpetual calendar, age and phases of the moon.
14:34 Courvosier & Compagne circa 1830 with solar advance retarde, month and date
14:42 Thought to be made by Carl Wagner, circa 1820, a student of Philipp Matthäus Hahn (1739–1790) with hours and minutes, day or night, day of the week, seconds, phases and age of the moon, date from 1–31, and the name of the month and the number of days it has.
15:05 Ulysse Nardin wrist watches
15:59 The Turler astronomical clock
19:06 painting of a gentleman proudly gesturing to draw attention to his large clock with a tiny working model of the earth, sun and moon atop it
19:24 the workshop where the museum does its own repairs and restorations
22:58 narrated walk through the first floor - discussion of my technique and future plans
23:36 the entrance hall
24:03 a Qlocktwo wall clock in French from Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany
24:12 the event space (where the watch fair takes place each fall)
24:20 the gift shop
24:58 the book shop
25:43 the entrance
26:08 the view of La Chaux-de-Fonds from la Tour Espacité (The Espacité Tower)

#switzerland #watchmaking