Grenchen
Grenchen is a watch city in Switzerland in the Canton of Solothurn at the German-French language border. It is called Granges in French, but this is also the name of two other municipalities in other parts of the country.
On January 16, 1851, the municipal assembly of Grenchen voted to introduce watchmaking to the village. Then housing just 1,200 inhabitants, this momentous decision would cause the population to grow ten-fold and the city remains an important watchmaking hub today. On April 1, 1952, Urs-Joseph Schild began his apprenticeship with François-Joseph Güggi, shifting his focus from teaching school to bookkeeping for watch production. Schild then joined the new Ebauche factory of the Girard brothers, taking over the business in 1856. Schild's work laid the foundation for the modern-day ETA.
Known as Grenchen-based watch manufacturers are Breitling, Fortis, Titoni, Eterna and Porsche Design and the movement manufacturers Adolph Schild S.A. and ETA.