Reconvilier is a municipality in the Jura bernois administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.
[3] The oldest trace of a settlement in the area are two ceramic and three bronze bowls which probably come from a Roman villa from the 2nd or 3rd century.
The noble Reconvilier family appears in historical records beginning in the 12th century and lasting until the 15th.
Then Reconvilier came under the authority of the provost of Moutier-Grandval who represented the Prince-Bishop of Basel.
After Napoleon's defeat and the Congress of Vienna, Reconvilier was assigned to the Canton of Bern in 1815.
In 1530, the entire Tavannes parish, including Reconvilier converted to the new faith of the Protestant Reformation.
The convenient transportation link allowed the village to expand into an important watchmaking center.
Both factories closed during the Quartz crisis of the 1970s, though the Reconvilier Watch Company name was reincorporated in Zug in 2006.
[4] The company now, operates under the name of Société Horlogère Reconvilier AG and besides producing a classic watch line, they have now moved into the business of supplying high-tech, GPS-based watches, which feature distance measurement for golf players.
[5] In 1855, Bueche, Boillat et Cie built a foundry to supply metal to the company.
Of the rest of the land, 1.06 km2 (0.41 sq mi) or 12.8% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.01 km2 (2.5 acres) or 0.1% is either rivers or lakes.
On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Arrondissement administratif Jura bernois.
[8] The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Argent a Bend wavy Sable and in chief sinister a Mullet of Five of the same.
[11] Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speaks French (1,999 or 82.7%) as their first language, German is the second most common (166 or 6.9%) and Italian is the third (72 or 3.0%).
In 2011, single family homes made up 63.5% of the total housing in the municipality.
[16] The historical population is given in the following chart:[3][17] The entire urbanized village of Reconvilier is designated as part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites[18] In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the Swiss People's Party (SVP) which received 32.7% of the vote.
[11] There were 1,138 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 43.1% of the workforce.
In the tertiary sector; 145 or 43.4% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 13 or 3.9% were in the movement and storage of goods, 25 or 7.5% were in a hotel or restaurant, 4 or 1.2% were technical professionals or scientists, 29 or 8.7% were in education and 83 or 24.9% were in health care.
[25] From the 2000 census[update], 1,082 or 44.8% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church, while 687 or 28.4% were Roman Catholic.
This is followed by three years of obligatory lower Secondary school where the students are separated according to ability and aptitude.
Following the lower Secondary students may attend additional schooling or they may enter an apprenticeship.