From Geneva to the Jura arc, the Swiss watch industry has shaped the country’s history and economy. The Chaux-de-Fonds International Museum of Watchmaking traces this course, highlighting the innovations that have revolutionized the measurement of time.
From the ancient clepsydra to atomic watches, each era has pushed the limits of the precision of time. And in this area, Switzerland has long been recognized worldwide for its know-how.
It was in the middle of the 16th century that the Swiss watch industry was born in Geneva. But a hundred years later, the city at the end of the lake with “too” clocks, part of them leaves to be established along the Jura arc which will experience strong economic development thanks to this industry.
Established in the city of Chaux-de-Fonds (NE), the International Watchmaking Museum (MIH) today has one of the richest watchmaking collections in the world, a reflection of the importance of this sector for the region. In the company of Nathalie Marielloni, assistant curator of the museum, return to two inventions which revolutionized this luxury industry.
The spiral spring, moving innovation
The current MIH exhibition, “innovation in motion. 350 years of the Spiral”, highlights a key invention of the watchmaking universe: the spiral spring. Introduced in the 17th century by the Dutch mathematician, astronomer and physicist Christiaan Huygens, then a member of the Academy of Sciences of Paris, this tiny component upset the precision of the watches, paving the way for globalization. As Nathalie Marielloni sums it up in the emission Les Enerigiques du 28 July: “This small spring made it possible to transport time on the boats and to be able to calculate the equation of longitude and thus position itself at sea.”
The spiral spring, despite its importance, has not, so to speak, since that time, still notes Nathalie Marielloni. “We play on the materiality of the spiral spring, the types of alloys, geometry, but we have not yet been able to find another element than the Spiral. And in the history of research and the development of techniques, it is one of the only components of which I have knowledge that has hardly changed or changed in 350 years”.
The arrival of quartz, a challenge for Swiss clocks
Another much more recent invention: the quartz bracelet watch presented for the first time in 1967 by engineers from the Neuchâtel watchmaker electronic center. A major technological innovation since this new mechanism, based on the vibrations of a very high frequency quartz crystal, makes it possible to reach an unequaled precision then, with 32,000 oscillations per second. This technological advance has upset the traditional watch industry, especially in Chaux-de-Fonds, by triggering what is called the “quartz crisis”.
Produced in Massa, quartz watches challenged Swiss watchmakers who had to adapt to this new competition, while pushing the limits of innovation to maintain their leading position in the luxury sector. As Nathalie Marielloni explains: “Quartz has enabled unprecedented precision, but also forced the industry to redefine its standards and techniques.”
Radio subject: Sarah Dirren
Adaptation Web: Sébastien Foggiato
“Innovation in motion. 350 years of the Spiral”, International Museum of Watchmaking, La Chaux-de-Fonds, from February 21 to November 2, 2025.
