Le Locle
Le Locle sits in the valley below La Chaux-de-Fonds and shares the same trade tradition. gridded streets, watchmaker apartments above ground-floor ateliers, a horology school dating to the 1860s. Tissot, Zenith, Mido, and Doxa all keep their manufactures here; the Tudor manufacture in Le Locle is where the MT calibres are made. Le Locle was the home of the El Primero in 1969, which is the only high-frequency automatic chronograph caliber that survived the quartz crisis in continuous production.
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7 pins in Le Locle. Hover or focus a pin for the brand name; click through for the brand’s catalog page.
Brands in Le Locle
Founded 1888 in Le Locle by brothers Alfred and Auguste Schneider; Swatch Group since 1983. The Double Security (DS) concept, introduced 1959, gave Certina its technical identity: shock absorption and enhanced water resistance across the range.
Founded 1889 in Le Locle by Georges Ducommun. The brand’s 1967 Sub 300 introduced the orange dial that became Doxa’s most-identified design feature; Cousteau wore one on the Calypso expeditions. Modern operations are based in Le Locle alongside Tissot, with assembly handled by the Jenny family ownership group.
Founded by Georges Schaeren in Zurich in 1918, headquartered in Le Locle since the Swatch Group consolidation. The brand’s 1934 Multifort and 1944 Ocean Star lines have stayed in continuous production for the better part of a century, with the Caliber 80 (ETA C07.621 base) the contemporary movement family.
Founded by Charles-Félicien Tissot and his son Charles-Émile in Le Locle; the brand has stayed in the Neuchâtel-Jura town since, and the Le Locle reference is named for it.
Founded 1846 by Ulysse Nardin in Le Locle (Neuchatel canton). The brand supplied marine chronometers to navies of over 50 countries and won more than 4,300 prizes for precision at international observatory competitions before the quartz era. Kering Group acquired Ulysse Nardin in 2014. The modern brand pioneered silicon escapement components in partnership with CSEM and EPFL, launching the first commercially available silicon pallet lever and escape wheel in 2001 (Freak), and has since integrated silicon into most of its in-house calibers via the Silicium and InnoVision programs.
Founded 1858 in La Chaux-de-Fonds as Manufacture Ditisheim; the Vulcain name was registered in 1900. The 1947 Cricket introduced the mechanical wristwatch alarm and made the brand a favorite of US presidents from Truman onward. Operations moved from La Chaux-de-Fonds to Le Locle in the early 2000s, alongside Tissot and Doxa.
Founded by Georges Favre-Jacot in Le Locle; the El Primero, the first high-beat automatic chronograph, was designed and made here in 1969.