25 Francs

The Banque de Dépôt et d'Émission de Chaux-de-Fonds was one of the cantonal and private note-issuing institutions that proliferated in Switzerland before federal banking consolidation. La Chaux-de-Fonds, deep in the Neuchâtel Jura, was then a watchmaking center rather than a financial capital — the bank's existence owed more to industrial credit needs than to any ambition in high finance. 1848 was a turbulent year across Europe, and Switzerland was not untouched: the new federal constitution adopted that year would, over the following decades, lay the groundwork for the note-issue reforms that eventually extinguished institutions like this one.

Survivors are rare. The Swiss cantonal note-issuing period ended abruptly enough that most provincial paper was redeemed and pulped rather than preserved.