Ле-Локль: Колыбель швейцарского часоделия

Le Locle (lə lɔkl; Luggli) is a municipality in the Canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. It is situated in the Jura Mountains, a few kilometers from the city of La Chaux de Fonds. It is the third smallest city in Switzerland (in Switzerland a place needs more than 10,000 inhabitants to be considered a city). Le Locle is known as a center of Swiss watchmaking, even cited as the birthplace of the industry, with roots dating back to the 1600s. The municipality has been home to manufactures such as Favre Leuba, Mido, Zodiac, Tissot, Ulysse Nardin, Zenith, Montblanc, Certina as well as Universal Genève, before the latter company relocated to Geneva. The town's history in watchmaking is documented at one of the world's premier horological museums, the Musée d'Horlogerie du Locle, Monts Castle, located in a 19th century country manor on a hill north of the city. Restored historic underground mills (grainmill, oilmill, sawmill) can be seen in a cave located about one kilometer west of the city center. The name of the town derives from the word for lake or trou d'eau.

Le Locle, as well as La Chaux de Fonds, owes its survival to the manufacturing and exports of watches. The industry of watch making was brought to Le Locle in the 17th century by Daniel Jeanrichard, a self taught watchmaker who encouraged the farmers of the area to start manufacturing watch components for him during the long winters. In the 20th century, the micro mechanical industry was added. The watchmaking cities of Le Locle and La Chaux de Fonds have jointly received recognition from UNESCO for their exceptional universal value. Due to the altitude (around ) and the lack of water (porous limestone underground) the land is ill suited to farming. Planning and buildings reflect the watch making artisans' need for rational organization. They were rebuilt in the early 19th century, after extensive fires. Along an open ended scheme of parallel strips on which residential housing and workshops intermingle, their town planning reflects the needs of the local watch making culture that dates back to the 17th century, and which is still alive today. Both towns present outstanding examples of mono industrial manufacturing towns, which are still well preserved and active. Their urban planning has accommodated the transition from the artisans’ production of a cottage industry to the more concentrated factory production of the late 19th and 20th centuries. Karl Marx described La Chaux de Fonds as a “huge factory town” in Das Kapital, where he analyzed the division of labour in the watch making industry of the Jura. It is the tenth Swiss site to be awarded World Heritage status, joining others such as the Old City of Bern, the Rhaetian Railway, and the Abbey and Convent of St. Gall.

Le Locle is first mentioned in 1332 as dou Locle.

Le Locle is located on the Swiss side of the cluse Col des Roches, which forms the border between France and Switzerland. Le Locle has an area, (as of the 2004/09 survey), of Of this area, or 53.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 29.9% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 15.9% is settled (buildings or roads) and or 0.2% is unproductive land. Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 1.4% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 7.7% and transportation infrastructure made up 4.7%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 1.3%. Out of the forested land, 26.7% of the total land area is heavily forested and 3.2% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 0.0% is used for growing crops and 33.8% is pastures and 19.6% is used for alpine pastures.

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Lozengy Gules and Or, on a Bar Argent a Barrulet wavy Azure, in Base on a panel Argent issuant from three mounts Vert as many Pine trees of the same. However, the official coat of arms (which is rarely used) is Quartered: bendy of eight serrated gules and vert in 1 and 4 and or five flamules azure issuant from the flank in 2 and 3, overall a cross argent.

Le Locle has a population of as of 2008, 26.0% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000–2010) the population has changed at a rate of −2.8%. It has changed at a rate of 0% due to migration and at a rate of −2.2% due to births and deaths. Most of the population (as of 2000) speaks French (9,264 or 88.0%) as their first language, Italian is the second most common (423 or 4.0%) and German is the third (203 or 1.9%). There are 6 people who speak Romansh. Of the population in the municipality, 3,884 or about 36.9% were born in Le Locle and lived there in 2000. There were 1,882 or 17.9% who were born in the same canton, while 1,576 or 15.0% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 2,639 or 25.1% were born outside of Switzerland. as of 2000, there were 4,713 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.1 persons per household. as of 2009, the construction rate of new housing units was 0.1 new units per 1000 residents.

The Ancien Hôtel des Postes, Monts Castle and the Museum d’horlogerie, City Hall, the Immeuble, Moulins souterrains du Col des Roches (Cave mills in the Col des Roches), the Villa Favre Jacot and Zenith SA are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance. It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site: La Chaux de Fonds/Le Locle, Watchmaking Town Planning (since 2009) and the entire town of Le Locle and village of Les Brenets are part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the PdA Party which received 24.8% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP (22.38%), the SVP (20.57%) and the LPS Party (16.13%). In the federal election, a total of 3,204 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 49.3%.

as of 2010, Le Locle had an unemployment rate of 7.6%. as of 2008, there were 95 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 38 businesses involved in this sector. 5,355 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 196 businesses in this sector. 2,409 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 300 businesses in this sector. In 2000, there were 4,232 workers who commuted into the municipality and 1,877 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 2.3 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. About 26.2% of the workforce coming into Le Locle are coming from outside Switzerland, while 0.2% of the locals commute out of Switzerland for work. Of the working population, 13.7% used public transportation to get to work, and 59.6% used a private car. During the 2010–11 school year, there were 10 kindergarten classes with a total of 185 students in Le Locle. In the same year, there were 31 primary classes with a total of 564 students. as of 2000, there were 622 students in Le Locle who came from another municipality, while 250 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

Le Locle has several railway stations; the primary one is , on the Neuchâtel–Le Locle Col des Roches line, with frequent service to and
Le Remontoir is an inclined elevator between Le Locle railway station and the city centre.