Chaux de Fonds

Chaux de Fonds, a town of Switzerland, in the canton of Neuchâtel, 18 miles by rail NW. of the city of that name. It is situated in a bleak valley, at an elevation of 3254 feet above the sea, and is scattered over a large area, almost every cottage being surrounded by a garden. It has for two centuries been one of the chief seats of the manufacture of watches in the canton. The mechanists work chiefly at home, each devoting himself to a particular portion of machinery. Pop. (1834) 6500; (1890) 27,094.