Sainte-Croix

Sainte-Croix sits high in the Vaud Jura, and when winter shut down farming the households turned to fine mechanical work - first watch parts, then from the early nineteenth century music boxes, and the town became the dominant producer worldwide, later adding singing-bird automata and mechanical figures of great complexity. Cheap recorded music destroyed the mass market, and the town moved into other precision manufacturing, but the craft survived: two museums, the CIMA and the Musee Baud, hold large collections and - crucially - demonstrate them, so visits involve hearing the machines rather than looking at them silent. Restoration workshops still operate, and new movements are still made in small numbers.

The main sights

• Music boxes played, not displayed silent - demonstrations are part of the visit.
• Singing-bird automata - the mechanical figures the town also made.
• Two collections - the CIMA and the Musee Baud.
• Living workshops - restoration and small-scale making still going on.

When to go

All year. Half a day.

Practical notes

Museum visits are guided with demonstrations at set times, mostly in French - check the timetable, since arriving between tours means waiting. The town itself is plain. The branch railway is slow.

Nearby

Yverdon-les-Bains is below; the Creux du Van is north-east along the Jura.

Key facts