Le Canton de Neuchâtel Suisse – Edouard Elzingre – 1923

Neuchâtel Switzerland poster – Le Canton de Neuchâtel Suisse poster – Edouard Elzingre – 1923

This is a vintage Swiss Railway poster promoting rail travel and tourism to the French speaking, Swiss town of Neuchâtel. Renowned for its watch-making industry, Neuchâtel is also the birthplace of Abraham-Louis Breguet, a Swiss watchmaker regarded as the most important watch maker and inventor in the history of time measurement. In addition to the high standard and complexity of the watches he made, Breguet  also came up with many watch-making inventions. Improvements such as automatic winding, the free escapement “échappement naturel”, the “Parachute” shock protection of the balance staff, the ruby cylinder escapement, the tourbillon, and the bent terminal curve of the flat hairspring – later named the Breguet hairspring after him. For Napoleon’s sister and Queen of Naples, Caroline Murat, Breguet built a watch that could be worn on the wrist, creating what is widely considered to be the the world’s first wristwatch.

This fabulous vintage Swiss poster was created for the Chemins de fer fédéraux suisses, CFF and features an image of a watch-maker sitting in front of a large window at his workshop table, surrounded by his tools. The scene through the window offers a great view of the town of Neuchâtel. From the edge of Lake Neuchâtel on the left hand side of the poster to the magnificent Castle and Collegiate Church, dating back to the 10th century. Visible in the distance are the Jura Mountains and the Swiss Alps beyond. This is the French version of the poster and includes the text “Un pays a visiter le Canton de Neuchatel” which translates in to English as “A country worth seeing The Canton of Neuchâtel.” Original copies of this poster sell for over £1750.

Our posters are carefully and professionally created from vintage originals. Whilst great care is taken in the production of these posters, we also try to maintain a vintage feel, so there may be small imperfections, fold marks, scuffs, tears or marks that were part of the original poster master. If these do appear they should be visible on the larger views of the item on this listing. The originals of many of the posters we offer can cost many thousands of pounds, so whilst these posters look great, especially framed and mounted on a wall, they are intended as a fun, affordable reproductions and not intended fine art prints

The 50x70cm version has been specially produced to be used in conjunction with Ikea’s 50x70cm Ribba picture frame which currently retails for around £12. So you can bag a print and frame for a great price.