dk nkf - Nordisk Konservatorforbund Danmark

Figure 3. View of La Chaux-de-Fonds
CROHP [1],[2],[3], carried out between 2006 and
2007, a multi-disciplinary team investigated these
materials to explore their patrimonial interest and
to consider their preservation. Results highlighted
the need to combine research in conservation with
both history and ethnography, particularly in respect
of industrial objects, the primary value of which
often goes unnoticed by the public or professionals
working in the cultural field.
After briefly placing the region in context, we will
try to evaluate why plastics are not recognised in
the watchmaking heritage of the Jura region. On
the basis of the results of the CROHP research
project we will then discuss the importance of
these materials at a technical, economic, social and
cultural level and the necessity of preserving them
as key anthropological markers despite the technical
difficulties they present to conservators.
Regional context
The Swiss clock making industry developed in
Geneva from the 16 th century onwards, under the
impulse of goldsmiths and thanks to the know-
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how of “Huguenots” fleeing from France [4]. The
history of horology in the Neuchâtel Mountain
region begins only in the 17 th century and develops
further in the 18 th century [5]. Historians attribute
the emergence of the watch and clockmaking
industry in this mountain region to a number of
social and economical factors, particularly the huge
workforce “of odd-job men” who were in fact Jura
farmers able to adapt to the various tasks involved
in clockmaking [6] and the system of “établissage”
[7],[8]. Horology thus spread to the mountains,
initially as a cottage industry, then gathered pace
in cities that were organised around this activity,
such as La Chaux-de-Fonds (fig. 3) and Le Locle.
In these watchmaking centres, economic life, town
planning, culture and architecture developed for and
around the clock industry. During the 20 th century,
this industry employed up to 50% or more of the
active population. These urban centres bore the
imprint of the watch and clock industry, so much
so that today an application has been filed for their
official recognition and inclusion on the UNESCO
World Heritage list. Over recent years the canton has
oriented tourism towards this heritage, particularly