With the arrival of spring, Jean Ruedin had set out to brave the last remaining snows on the Haut Plateau. Armed with axes and saws, the adventurer set up camp on the slopes bordering the Doubs, a raging river whose course led it through a 400-metre deep canyon.

Riven by the teeth of the saws, licked and consumed by the flames of ferocious fires, the firs surrendered to the grim determination of the voyager from the lands below. The broad trunks were used to construct the buildings that would house the very first settlers on the high terrain of the Jura, christened Les Bois (The Woods), Le Noir-Mont (Black Mountain), Les Breuleux (Burning Torches) or even Les Enfers (Hell).

Imier could not have known it, but his decree was about to set this lofty community on a great and glorious path: the pursuit of watchmaking expertise.

And so La Franche Montagne was born.

Rudis Sylva: Rudis Sylva: From Jean Ruedin and Sylva, Latin for 'forest'. Rudis Sylva became Les Bois.

< Previous