Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Morteau Clock Museum, located in the Pertusier Castle, is dedicated to the history of watchmaking in Franche-Comté since the 18th century. Founded in 1985 by Constant Vaufrey, a former watchmaker and deputy mayor, it aims to preserve the local watchmaking heritage and to enhance the heritage of the peasant watchmakers of Haut-Doubs. These artisans, active as early as 1750, made tools and parts during the winter months, contributing to the international reputation of franco-comtois precision tools.

The museum is organized on two levels and seven rooms, exhibiting an extensive collection: tools, machines, comtoise clocks, pocket watches, cartels and astronomical clocks (including parts dated 1855 and 2004). The collections are regularly enriched by donations, purchases or loans, such as a Comtoise clock of 1730 or a Jaeger-LeCoultre alarm clock of the 1950s. The Renaissance building, the Pertusier Castle, belongs to the municipality, while the Haut-Doubs watchmaking tradition association manages it.

The clock industry marked the local economy, with a flourishing French production between 1750 and 1990, before giving way to a predominantly Swiss industry. The museum highlights this artisanal and industrial know-how, as well as its impact on the prosperity of the Val de Morteau. The peasants watchmakers, creators of their own tools, played a key role in this history, combining agriculture and mechanical precision during the hollow periods.

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