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Many of the world’s most original, expensive, and most famous watches are made in Swiss factories, where when watchmakers look up from their workbenches, the view they see is snow-capped mountain slopes and grassy fields. It may be like a cow eating something.
This is the Vallée de Joux, home to the factories and offices of the watch divisions of Audemars Piguet, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Blancpain, Breguet, Patek Philippe and Bvlgari, as well as parts suppliers such as La Pierrete for the rubies and CHH Microtechnique for all its products. There are also companies. From screws to shock absorbers.
Approximately 7,000 people work in watchmaking here, many of them in facilities located on a roughly 3-kilometer (1.9-mile) stretch between the towns of Le Brassus and Le Sentier.
So when the end of the week comes, where do you go to just talk and de-stress?
At 11:45 a.m. on a recent Friday, Chez Lily in Le Brassus was buzzing. By 12:30, each of its 12 wooden tables had a small pot of anthurium on it, and employees were calling out to them. Most of them were employees of Audemars Piguet, just up the hill, and CHH Microtechnic, a short walk away.
Was it the daily special (sea bass fillet with citrus sauce, fries, 19 Swiss francs, or $21) that drew them, or was it the camaraderie? People entered the small cafe, similar to the company cafeteria, and nodded in recognition to each other.
Colleagues were sitting together and talking. or not. “For us, this is a chance to reflect on our lives,” said Rennie Buret, who was with three of his Piguet colleagues at Audemars. “We assemble parts for different watches.” Ta.
The men come to Chez Lily every Friday for lunch. “It’s a tradition,” Buret said.
It’s a tradition for others too. Six employees from his division at CHH Microtechnique, including his boss, Vincent Palpawer, were seated around a table. “We don’t talk about work. We talk about other things,” he said. However, on this day they made an exception and listed the different watch parts they create for the visitors.
Everyone at the four-person table next to me was also from CHH Microtechnique. “We create every component of a watch for the Swatch Group, Breguet and Blancpain,” says Anthony Gaillard.
What this group likes about coming to Chez Lilly is that “Lily and her partner chef are from Vila Verde in Braga, Portugal, and my wife and I are also from there,” said Cristiano Veloso, his wife Andreia. He said while nodding to Ramos. , were seated across the table.
It was starting to feel like a family meal, but it was as appealing as the beef tartare du chef (CHF 33), one of chef Pedro Silva’s most popular dishes. It seems like a department. The atmosphere is warm and rustic, with a stone-covered bar surface. The chaise lounge is made of red leather. The placemats are paper, and the food is piled high on plates delivered by the restaurant’s only waitress, Geraldine Collineau, or Lily herself, whose real name is Liliane Jacinta Araujo Tagus.
Almost across the street was the Hôtel de la Lande, whose restaurant was also full of watchmakers. The menu has an Italian twist, with risotto and pasta dishes, as well as dishes such as veal scaloppine (CHF 34) and grilled sea bass (CHF 38). Breton Nicolas, a legeur at CHH Microtechnique who adjusts hairsprings and makes other minor adjustments, said he came with his colleagues “to celebrate the end of the week.”
Sabrina Pawney and all three of her colleagues from Swatch Group’s human resources department come here regularly to discuss ‘work and watches’. It’s a family, there are dozens of family members here. ”
By 2 p.m., both restaurants were empty as employees had to return to work.
And when the day’s work is done, many head to the Notos Bar Restaurant, located just a short walk from Le Sentier’s train station.
Bar Maison, something of a local institution, had been operating at the location for years, but closed during the coronavirus lockdown, perhaps hurried by its reputation for rowdyness.
The spot reopened as Notos in 2021 with added food appeal. Daily specials such as pork cutlet or pizza with creamed spinach, fior di latte mozzarella, gorgonzola, pear and nuts come with a green salad (CHF 19). There are two tables outside at the front, and inside there are six of his blond wood tables that seat four, and one communal table that seats ten. There is a bar and pizza oven in the back, and he also has a separate dining room with 12 tables.
“Salvatore brought Neapolitan pizza to the Vallée de Joux,” Filippos Gasparis said of his business partner Salvatore de Rosa. But Mr. Gaspari also makes his own contributions to the restaurant’s menu called meze, an assortment of small dishes from his native Greece.
There is also a Notos cocktail with passion fruit juice and rosé wine. The wine list includes Chasselas from Switzerland and Voila Assyrtiko from Crete. From the local Dr. Gabs to the German Dunkelweizen, the most popular drink is draft beer.
“It’s like an English pub,” says Chris Pointere, who works at Audemars Piguet as a guilloché, or carving, team leader by day and as a special events DJ by night.
“We have good pizza,” said Pascal Schrunegger, a colleague of Mr. Pointerre both at Audemars Piguet, where he leads workshops, and at his DJ gigs.
“And it’s a cold atmosphere,” Pointerre continued.
“And that’s central,” Schlunegger concluded.
Laura Poetet, who works on dials at Audemars Piguet, and her four colleagues all laugh when I ask them if they come here often.
“Yes, we come here often,” she said. “The atmosphere is nice and the beer is good. Sometimes we talk about work, but after a couple of beers we talk about other things.” Life, love, family.
Sandra Perrault, a movement expert at Breguet, was at Notos with several colleagues. She said she came because she liked the convivial atmosphere. And to show how friendly she is to her visitors, she pulls out her phone and displays a photo of a scret (skeleton watch in English) with a finely polished movement ticking inside.
And then there’s Nautilus, a nightclub opposite Jaeger-LeCoultre. The club is temporarily closed, but when it reopens, Notos patrons will probably walk the short distance to the unmarked door and continue drinking and hanging out, regardless of the time of day.
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