Le Locle

Le Locle
Trois Rois building in Le Locle
Country	Switzerland
Canton	Neuchâtel
District	Le Locle
Coordinates	47°04′N 6°42′E / 47.067°N 6.7°E / 47.067; 6.7Coordinates: 47°04′N 6°42′E / 47.067°N 6.7°E / 47.067; 6.7
Population	10,240 (2007[update])
- Density	443 /km2 (1,146 /sq mi)
Area	23.14 km2 (8.93 sq mi)
Elevation	945 m (3,100 ft)
Postal code	2400
SFOS number	6436
Mayor	Denis De la Reussille
Surrounded by	La Chaux-de-Fonds, La Chaux-du-Milieu, La Sagne, Le Cerneux-Péquignot, Les Brenets, Les Planchettes, Les Ponts-de-Martel, Villers-le-Lac (FR-25)
Website	www.lelocle.ch Profile (French), SFSO statistics
Le Locle

La Chaux-de-Fonds / Le Locle, watchmaking town planning*
UNESCO World Heritage Site
State Party	Switzerland
Type	Cultural
Criteria	iv
Reference	1302
Region**	Europe and North America
Inscription history
Inscription	2009  (33rd Session)
* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List. ** Region as classified by UNESCO.

Le Locle is a municipality in the district of Le Locle in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland.

It is situated in the Jura mountains, a few kilometers from the city of La Chaux-de-Fonds. It is the third smallest city in Switzerland (in Switzerland a place needs more than 10,000 inhabitants to be considered a city).

Le Locle, as a center of the Swiss watchmaking industry, is home to brands such as a very early maker, the Terrasse Watch Co.,and others such as Tissot, Ulysse Nardin and Zenith and has one of the world's premier horological museums, the Musée d'Horlogerie du Locle, Château des Monts, located in a 19th century country manor on a hill north of the city [1]. Restored historic underground mills (grainmill, oilmill, sawmill) can be seen in a cave located about one kilometer west of the city center [2].

Unesco World Heritage Sites

The watchmaking cities of Le Locle and La Chaux-de-Fonds have jointly received recognition from UNESCO for their exceptional universal value.

The Site's planning consists of two small cities located close to each other in the mountainous environment of the Swiss Jura. Due to the altitude (1'000 meters up) and the lack of water (porous sandstone underground) the land is ill suited to farming. Planning and buildings reflect the watch making artisans need of rational organization. Rebuilt in the early 19th Century, after extensive fires, both towns owe their survival to the manufacturing and exports of watches, to which, in the 20th Century, was added the minute micro mechanicalindustry.

Along an open-ended scheme of parallel strips on which residential housing and workshops are intermingled, their town planning reflects the needs of the local watch making culture that dates back to the 17th century, which still alive today. Both agglomerations present outstanding examples of mono-industrial manufacturing-towns, which are still well preserved and active. Their urban planning has accommodated the transition from the artisans’ production of a cottage industry to the more concentrated factory production of the late 19th and 20th centuries. Already Karl Marx described La Chaux-de-Fonds as a “huge factory-town” in Das Kapital, where he analyzed the division of labour in the watch making industry of the Jura.

It is the tenth Swiss Site to be awarded World Heritage status, joining others such as the Old City of Berne, the Rhaetian Railway and the Abbey and Convent of St. Gallen.

Source: [3]

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Le Locle is twinned with:

• Sidmouth, Devon, UK
• Gérardmer France

External links

• Unesco World Heritage List: Le Locle & La Chaux-de-Fonds
• Le Locle website
• Le Locle in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Le Locle

v • d • e Municipalities in the district of Le Locle, Switzerland Brot-Plamboz | La Brévine | Les Brenets | Le Cerneux-Péquignot | La Chaux-du-Milieu | Le Locle | Les Ponts-de-Martel Canton of Neuchâtel | Districts of Canton Neuchâtel | Municipalities of the canton of Neuchâtel

v • d • e World Heritage Sites in Switzerland Old City of Bern · Convent of St. Gall · Convent of St. Johann · Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch · La Chaux-de-Fonds / Le Locle · Lavaux Vineyard Terraces · Monte San Giorgio · Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina Landscapes (shared with Italy) · Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona · Castles, Wall and Ramparts of Bellinzone