02 Jan 2021

Swiss and French Mechanical Watchmaking Awarded UNESCO Intangible Heritage Status

Swiss and French Mechanical Watchmaking Awarded UNESCO Intangible Heritage Status

Paying tribute to an exquisite craftsmanship which has existed for centuries in the Jura mountain region straddling Switzerland and France, the refined art of Swiss and French mechanical watchmaking has been bestowed the UNESCO intangible heritage status. According to UNESCO, the art of mechanical watchmaking sits at a “crossroads of science, art and technology”.


Even before the listing, the art and craft of mechanical watchmaking had already been practiced for centuries along the Swiss-French Jura Arc, stretching from Geneva to Basel. It was in that very region where French theologian Jean Calvin, the influential reformer in Geneva during the Protestant Reformation, played a crucial role in embedding watchmaking in the region.

By banning the wearing of ornamental objects in 1541, he “in effect forced goldsmiths and other jewellers to turn to a different art: that of watchmaking,” the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry explained. Back then, Protestants fleeing prosecution in France also fled into the city, bringing their watchmaking skills with them.

