International Museum of Horology, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
The International Museum of Horology (MIH) is the world’s largest clock museum, located in La Chaux-de-Fonds. The museum is home to more than 4,500 of the most famous clocks and watches, each a testimony to the history of time-keeping. There are 2,700 watches and around 700 wall clocks on site, with highlights being The Conquest of Time, three frescoes by Hans Erni made for the Universal Exhibition in Brussels in 1958, and a full-size replica of Giovanni de’ Dondi’s Astrarium, the clockwork-driven 14th-century mechanism showing the movement of the sun, moon and the planets. In the Centre for the Restoration of Antique Timepieces you can watch the watchmakers while they work. An audiovisual presentation, a multimedia show and interactive clocks complete a tour of this exceptional museum. chaux-de-fonds.ch/musees/mih; myswitzerland.com