Many of the world’s most inventive, expensive and best-known watches are made in factories in Switzerland, where the view that watchmakers see when they raise their eyes from their workbenches is likely to be cows grazing on the slopes of snow-capped mountains.
It’s the Vallée de Joux, home to factories or offices for Audemars Piguet, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Blancpain, Breguet, Patek Philippe and Bulgari’s watch division — as well as the companies that supply their parts, including La Pierrette for rubies and CHH Microtechnique for everything from screws to shock absorbers.
Some 7,000 people work on watches here, many of them in facilities along a roughly three-kilometer (1.9-mile) stretch between the towns of Le Brassus and Le Sentier.
So come the end of the workweek, where do they go to just talk, or blow off steam?
At 11:45 a.m. on a recent Friday, Chez Lily in Le Brassus was bustling; by 12:30, its 12 wood tables, each bearing a little anthurium in a pot, were ringed by workers, most from Audemars Piguet, a short walk up the hill, and CHH Microtechnique, a short walk down.
Was it the daily special (filets of perch in a citrus sauce, with fries; 19 Swiss francs, or $21) that drew them, or the sense of camaraderie? People entered the small cafe in much the same way they would a company canteen, nodding to one another in recognition.
Co-workers sat together, talking shop. Or not. “For us it’s a chance to catch up on life,” said Lenny Buret, who was with three colleagues from Audemars Piguet where, he said, “we assemble the parts in different watches.”
The men come to Chez Lily every Friday for lunch. “It’s a tradition,” Mr. Buret said.
It’s a tradition for others as well. Six workers from one CHH Microtechnique department, including the boss, Vincent Palpawer, sat around a table. “We don’t discuss the job, we talk about other things,” he said. They made an exception on this particular day, however, enumerating for a visitor all the various watch parts that they create.
Everyone at a neighboring table of four were from CHH Microtechnique, too. “We create all parts of a watch for the Swatch Group, for Breguet and Blancpain,” Anthony Guyard said.
The group likes to come to Chez Lily because “Lily and her partner, the chef, are from Portugal, from Vila Verde in Braga, where my wife and I are from, too,” said Cristiano Veloso, nodding at his wife, Andreia Ramos, who sat across the table.
It was starting to feel like a family meal, which seems to be as much a part of the appeal as the beef tartare du chef (33 Swiss francs), one of the most popular dishes from the chef, Pedro Silva. The atmosphere is warm and rustic — the bar is faced with stone; the banquettes are red leatherette; the place mats are paper and the food is mounded high on plates delivered by the restaurant’s lone waitress, Géraldine Colineau, or by Lily herself, whose name actually is Liliane Jacinta Araújo Tejo.
Practically across the street is the Hôtel de la Lande — and its restaurant was filled with watch workers, too. The menu has an Italian spin to it, with risottos and pastas, as well as veal scaloppine (34 Swiss francs) and grilled sea bass (38 Swiss francs). Breton Nicolas, a CHH Microtechnique régleur, who adjusts hairsprings and does other fine tuning, said he came with a co-worker “to celebrate the end of the workweek.”
Sabrina Pourny and her three colleagues in the human resources department at the Swatch Group all come here regularly to talk about “work and watches. It’s family, we see dozens of family here.”
By 2 p.m., both of the restaurants had cleared out as the workers had to get back to their jobs.
And when they finish for the day, many head to the Notos Bar-Restaurant, a short walk from the train station in Le Sentier.
Maison, a bar that was something of a local institution, had been operating in the location for years, but closed during the Covid lockdowns, perhaps hastened by its reputation for rowdiness.
The spot reopened in 2021 as Notos, with the additional attraction of food. Daily specials — such as pork cutlets or a pizza with creamed spinach, fior di latte mozzarella, Gorgonzola, pear and nuts — come with a green salad (19 Swiss francs). There are two tables outside in the front, and inside, a half-dozen blonde wood tables for four and a communal table for 10. The bar and pizza oven are in the back, as well as another dining room with 12 tables.
“Salvatore brought Neapolitan pizza to the Vallée de Joux,” said Philippos Gasparis, referring to Salvatore De Rosa, his business partner. But then Mr. Gasparis also has made his own contribution to the eatery’s menu: meze, an assortment of small dishes from his native Greece.
There’s a Notos cocktail with passion fruit juice and rosé wine; a wine list with Swiss Chasselas and Voila Assyrtiko from Crete; and beer on tap, by far the most popular drink, from the local Dr. Gab’s to a German Dunkelweizen.
“It’s like an English pub,” said Chris Pointaire, who by day works as a team leader for guillochage, or engraving, at Audemars Piguet and by night as a D.J. at special events.
“It’s got good pizza,” said Pascal Schlunegger, Mr. Pointaire’s colleague at both Audemars Piguet, where he is a workshop leader, and on D.J. gigs.
“And a chill atmosphere,” Mr. Pointaire continued.
“And it’s central,” Mr. Schlunegger concluded.
When asked if they come here often, Laura Poete, who works on dials at Audemars Piguet, and her four co-workers all laughed.
“Yes, we come here often,” she said. “The ambience is good and the beer is good. We might talk about work, but after two beers we talk about something else.” Life, love, family.
Sandra Perrot, who polishes movements at Breguet, was at Notos with some co-workers. She said she comes because she likes the atmosphere, it’s convivial. And to show a visitor just how friendly it can be, she pulled out her cellphone to display a photo of a squelette (in English, skeleton watch), with its expertly polished movement visible inside, ticking away.
And then there’s Nautilus, the nightclub across from Jaeger-LeCoultre. The club is temporarily closed, but when it reopens habitués of Notos probably will once again make the short trek over to its unmarked door to continue drinking and hanging out, regardless of the time.