The Besançon Observatory - Keeping time by the stars

Responding to demands of the clock and watch makers of Besançon and of the Besançon local authorities, a presidential decree of 11 March 1878 created at Besançon a new ‘astronomical, meteorological and chronometrical observatory’. Chronometry was at the origins of this new establishment and explains its originality. The clock and watch-making capital of France now had a tool to control its products and improve their qualities. One hundred and thirty years later, the departmental centre of the French weather-forecasting services for the Doubs and the Besançon observatory are still pursuing their original aims.
The establishment today has a staff of about forty people, involved in astrophysics and time-frequency studies. At the request of local manufacturers, it has recently re-instated the certification of time pieces. This publication offers a history of the observatory and a glimpse of its rich architectural and instrumental heritage.