Fontainemelon

Canton of Neuchâtel · Region: Val-de-Ruz · 1'633 inhabitants (31.12.2012, former municipality of Fontainemelon, last census before the merger)

Part of the municipality of Val-de-Ruz

Origin of the name Founding Historical timeline Population over time Must-see historical sites Remains Sources and references Nearby villages

Origin of the name Fontainemelon

The name is recorded around 1350 as « Fontainnemelom » and in 1358 as « Fontannamillon ». The first element is said to refer to the word fontaine (spring, fountain), alluding to the many small springs of a territory with no watercourse (to be cross-checked). The second element remains unexplained; the idea of a corruption of « mille fontaines » (a thousand springs) is put forward by only one source (to be cross-checked).

Founding of Fontainemelon

Like most villages of the Val-de-Ruz, Fontainemelon has no known founder: it is a rural settlement that grew out of medieval land clearing. In 1358, Jean d'Aarberg, lord of Valangin, granted cleared land at Fontainemelon against a quitrent. The village belonged to the lordship, then to the mairie of Valangin, and became a municipality in 1860. Its transformation dates from October 1793 (the 21st or 31st depending on the source), when the brothers Isaac and David Benguerel dit Perroud, together with Julien and François Humbert-Droz, founded the Benguerel & Humbert watch manufactory there, a movement blank (ébauche) factory described as the oldest in Switzerland (to be cross-checked). By 1815, more than half of the population worked in watchmaking.

History of Fontainemelon

around 1350. First known written mention of the place, in the form Fontainnemelom.

1358. The name appears as « Fontannamillon ». The same year, Jean d'Aarberg, lord of Valangin, grants cleared land at Fontainemelon against a quitrent.

1592. The lordship of Valangin, to which Fontainemelon belongs, is joined to the principality of Neuchâtel (to be cross-checked).

October 1793. Founding of the Benguerel & Humbert watch manufactory by Isaac and David Benguerel dit Perroud and by Julien and François Humbert-Droz; it is described as the first movement blank factory in Switzerland (to be cross-checked). The exact day varies between sources (21 or 31 October).

1797. The company employs around 120 workers (up to 200 according to other sources, to be cross-checked), a good many of whom still work from home under the établissage (outwork) system.

1812. Departure of the Benguerel brothers; the company becomes Humbert Frères.

1815. More than half of the village population works in watchmaking.

1816. Construction of the factory's first building, with a turret and a bell that struck the hours; a local source dates it to 1826 (to be cross-checked).

1821. Jacob Robert-Tissot, who married Mélanie Humbert-Droz, daughter of one of the founders, joins the company.

1 January 1825. The factory is taken over by the Robert family and reorganised as Robert & Cie; it then produces 60'000 pieces with 160 workers.

1838. Robert & Cie buys the Eguet Frères factory in Corgémont in order to benefit from the hydraulic power of the Suze river.

1852. Founding of a consumer cooperative.

1860. Fontainemelon becomes a municipality. The same year, Louis Favre builds the Les Loges railway tunnel, whose southern opening lies in Fontainemelon.

1862. Introduction of steam power in the workshops.

1876. Transformation into a joint-stock company under the name Fabrique d'Horlogerie de Fontainemelon SA (FHF); the company then employs 400 workers and produces 240'000 ébauches per year.

around 1900. Under the impetus of Paul Robert, the factory introduces mass production methods inspired by American factories.

April 1900. The architect Eugène Prince presents the plans for the village's future temple, whose land, building and cemetery are donated to the municipality by the Robert family.

1900. Fontainemelon, previously part of the parish of Fontaines-Cernier and from 1875 of that of Cernier, becomes an independent parish.

6 July 1902. Consecration of the neo-Romanesque church of Fontainemelon; the parsonage dates from the same year.

1903. The village is served by the Val-de-Ruz tramway, replaced by the trolleybus in 1948 and then by buses in 1986.

1913. Production of one million movement blanks by 1'030 workers.

1925. Merger with the Charles Hahn & Cie house of Le Landeron, which becomes a branch of the FHF.

27 December 1926. The FHF joins with A. Schild SA (Granges) and Adolphe Michel SA to found the holding company Ébauches SA, which employs nearly 6'000 people from its beginnings.

1931. Ébauches SA joins the umbrella group ASUAG (Allgemeine Gesellschaft der Schweizerischen Uhrenindustrie AG).

1938. Founding of the Football Club Fontainemelon.

1940. Production of two million movement blanks by 1'100 workers.

1950-1960. The standard caliber FHF 608 becomes one of the most produced movements in the world, with more than 40 million units manufactured.

1958. The village begins to spread over the former agricultural zone, with areas of apartment blocks and villas.

1962. Production of six million movement blanks by 1'175 workers.

1969. Ébauches SA has 10'000 employees and takes control of the French manufacturer Lip.

1974. Ébauches SA holds around 25% of the world market for mechanical movements.

1976. The group totals 1.136 billion ébauches produced in fifty years of existence.

1979. The FHF develops the mini-quartz, then presented as the smallest movement in the world.

1978-1985. Progressive restructuring of the Swiss watchmaking industry, marked by the quartz crisis: the activities of Ébauches SA and the FHF are combined within ETA SA Fabrique d'Ébauches.

1983. Merger of ASUAG and SSIH to form SMH, Société suisse de microélectronique et d'horlogerie (Swiss Corporation for Microelectronics and Watchmaking).

1984. The Fontainemelon factory is taken over by ETA SA.

1985. Complete dissolution of Ébauches SA into SMH; Fontainemelon's activities are definitively integrated into ETA SA, which becomes the group's sole movement production entity.

1994. Opening of the Vue-des-Alpes road tunnel, whose southern portal lies in Fontainemelon.

1995. A fire destroys the south wing of the ETA production centre in Fontainemelon.

1997. Inauguration of a new production building on the site, following reconstruction after the 1995 fire.

1998. SMH is renamed Swatch Group.

2003. ETA SA Fabrique d'Ébauches is renamed ETA Manufacture Horlogère Suisse SA, still within the Swatch Group.

1 January 2013. Fontainemelon merges with Boudevilliers, Cernier, Chézard-Saint-Martin, Coffrane, Dombresson, Engollon, Fenin-Vilars-Saules, Fontaines, Les Geneveys-sur-Coffrane, Les Hauts-Geneveys, Montmollin, Le Pâquier, Savagnier and Villiers to form the new municipality of Val-de-Ruz; Fontainemelon loses its status as an independent municipality and becomes a locality of Val-de-Ruz.

2016. Dissolution of the Football Club Fontainemelon, founded in 1938.

Population of Fontainemelon

14 hearths (households)

1531

1750

490

1850

794

1900

973

1950

1'481

1990

1'605

2000

1'625

2011

1'633

2012

Historic sites in Fontainemelon

The Temple of Fontainemelon. Built between 1900 and 1902 to the plans of the architect Eugène Prince, this neo-Romanesque temple owes its existence to the population growth linked to the industrial boom: until then, inhabitants had to travel to Cernier for religious services. The land, the building and the adjoining cemetery were donated to the municipality by the Robert family, then at the head of the ébauche factory. The building, consecrated on 6 July 1902, has a central nave with a gable roof flanked by a bell tower offset to the north, as well as two rose windows with heraldic stained glass.

The industrial site of the ébauche factory. Around the factory founded in 1793 grew an entire industrial district: workshops, administrative buildings and workers' housing, which shaped the village's urban fabric from the 19th century onward. Occupied successively by Robert & Cie, the Fabrique d'Horlogerie de Fontainemelon SA (FHF), Ébauches SA and then ETA SA of the Swatch group, the site remains today an active watchmaking production center, making it one of the rare Swiss examples of nearly uninterrupted industrial continuity since the end of the 18th century.

The hamlet of Les Loges. A small hamlet and alpine pasture on the heights above the village, at 1'230 metres, part of which belonged to the municipal territory of Fontainemelon. Its name is said to come from loge, a term for a shelter for livestock and herders during summer grazing (to be cross-checked).

Remains in Fontainemelon

The factory's turret and bell (1816). The factory's first building was topped by a turret with a bell that struck the hours, long a symbol of the company and the village; when it disappeared is not known. Its construction is dated to 1816 by two sources and to 1826 by a local source (to be cross-checked).

Traces of the 1995 fire and its reconstruction. In 1995 a fire destroyed the south wing of the ETA production centre in Fontainemelon; a new building was inaugurated there in 1997, on an industrial site in use since 1793.

Sources

Other villages near Fontainemelon

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