International Museum of Horology

Geschichte

The International Museum of Horology, 'Musée international d'horlogerie', is a museum in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, dedicated to horology, which is the study of time, timekeeping and timekeeping devices . The museum is owned and operated by the city of La Chaux-de-Fonds.Historically the city of La Chaux-de-Fonds is considered one of the focal points of the Swiss watchmaking industries and the home of one of the country's famous watchmaking schools. The museum grew out of the study collection of the school, and is considered today among the broadest and most comprehensive watch and clock museums of the world. In addition to constantly changing temporary exhibits the museum features permanent displays from its vast collection of watches and clocks throughout history. While the collection is obviously strong on Swiss pieces it covers most places where timekeepers were made in any quantity.To just get a general overview of the holdings will take at least an hour, a highlights tour will be half a day, but it is easy to spend more time there. Visitors who make a trip to La Chaux-de-Fonds to see MIH will typically also want to visit the Musée d'Horlogerie du Locle a smaller horological museum in the neighboring town of Le Locle, which complements MIH.Both Le Locle and its geographical twin town La Chaux-de-Fonds have now been recognised as an UNESCO World Heritage Site, for their horological and related cultural past.

"Le Musée international d’horlogerie MIH, attraction unique dans sa conception architecturale et muséographique, présente la collection la plus significative au monde entièrement consacrée à la mesure du temps.Du cadran solaire à l’horloge atomique, en passant par des pendules, montres, automates, machines et outils du XVIe siècle à nos jours, l’exposition dévoile les mystères du temps et retrace de manière vivante et ludique l’histoire technique, artistique, sociale, économique et culturelle de l’horlogerie suisse et internationale."