Guided tour of St-Imier, land of energy

The history of Saint-Imier begins around the year 600, with the arrival of Imier, a hermit from Ajoie. A real metamorphosis took place in the 1700s with the appearance of the clock industry. The town became a true cradle of watchmaking in the region with the appearance of the first factories: Leonidas in 1842, TAG-Heuer in 1860, Longines in 1866, Breitling in 1884. Although Saint-Imier has few vestiges of its distant past, due to three major fires that devastated the town in 1839, 1843 and 1856, there are still a few buildings that predate that period. The guided tour of Saint-Imier allows the visitor to understand the fundamentals of watchmaking in the Grand Chasseral.