Saint-Imier (French pronunciation: [sɛ̃.t‿imje]) is a municipality in the Jura bernois administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.

According to the legend of St. Imerius, he settled in the valley as a hermit in the late 6th or early 7th century on a piece of land that bishop Marius of Lausanne gave him as a present.

In 999, the Abbey donated Saint-Imier and a number of surrounding villages to the Prince-Bishop of Basel.

In 1264, the Bishop appointed Otto of Arguel (or Erguel) as the vogt over the Saint-Imier valley fief.

By the end of the 15th century, Saint-Imier included the villages of Villeret, Sonvilier, Renan and La Ferriere.

[3] Even though the physical valley was owned by the Bishop of Basel, religiously it was part of the Diocese of Lausanne.

In 1530, Biel encouraged Saint-Imier to embrace the Protestant Reformation and convert to the new religion.

[3] In 1792 Théodore Frédéric Louis Liomin, the vogt or bailiff of Saint-Imier, threw his support behind the revolutionary movement that was sweeping the region.

After Napoleon's defeat and the Congress of Vienna, Saint-Imier was assigned to the Canton of Bern in 1815.

[3] During the 18th century the inhabitants of the valley gradually gave up agriculture in favor of more lucrative jobs in the watch and lace-making industries.

Because the town's economy was so dependent on watchmaking, the economic crisis of the 1930s and the 1970s hit Saint-Imier hard.

By the beginning of the 21st century, there were about ten watchmaking companies and the economy had diversified to include dental and medical technology and meteorology.

The event included lectures, workshops, concerts, film screenings, theatre plays, exhibitions and a book fair.

[5] By the second day of the event, thousands of people had arrived in the town, causing logistical issues for the self-managed space.

In order to guarantee safety, the Swiss Federal Railways halted all rail traffic between Saint-Imier and La Chaux-de-Fonds over the weekend, organising replacement bus services in order to maintain the public transit network.

[7][8] The event would end up counting 5,000 attendees, mostly people in their early twenties, who were reportedly warmly welcomed by the town's population.

Saint-Imier mayor Corentin Jeanneret reported that the event went largely smoothly, with the exception of a few cases of graffiti.

[12] The municipality is located in the Saint-Imier valley along the Suze river and on the Biel/Bienne-La Chaux-de-Fonds road.

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Sable two Pales Or and overall on a Bar Argent a Mullet of Five Gules.

The historical population is given in the following chart:[3][19] The Collégiale and the Longines Watch factory are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance.

The entire urban village of Saint-Imier is part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.

The Breitling watchmaking company was founded in Saint-Imier, but moved to Grenchen, Canton of Solothurn.

In the tertiary sector; 184 or 18.4% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 29 or 2.9% were in the movement and storage of goods, 48 or 4.8% were in a hotel or restaurant, 40 or 4.0% were the insurance or financial industry, 44 or 4.4% were technical professionals or scientists, 101 or 10.1% were in education and 437 or 43.7% were in health care.

This is followed by three years of obligatory lower Secondary school where the students are separated according to ability and aptitude.

[23] Saint-Imier is home to 2 libraries, the Haute école Arc – Ingénierie and the Bibliothèque régionale de St-Imier.

HC Sainti Bats plays in the Première Ligue, the fourth tier of Swiss hockey.