Tweet
It is most important to remember that a "COSC certified chronometer" is not the Holy Grail of watchmaking. With the high quality of modern day robotised manufacturing, this test is not that important in reality. All the main movement parts are machine made and in theory should be all the same when assembled into a working movement.In todays world most decent modern watches from all countries even some from China like the Seagull movements, when adequately adjusted and properly regulated, should be able to match the performance specified by the Swiss COSC.
A chronometer certificate is not a guarantee of future accuracy only a certification of the bare movement being tested at the COSC at that time. Watch movements that have been certified can get out of adjustment and perform quite poorly and have to be re-regulated. Movements that were not certified could still exceed the COSC standards with or without just simple regulation.Many of the manufacturers may have simply chosen to bypass the expense of the certification process its quite expensive to test and adjust every single movement. But today the Swiss COSC is little more than a pure marketing tool and means little in actual performance only the fact the bare uncased movement has been tested.
The term "Superlative Chronometer" is a now trademark of Rolex. The addition of the word "Superlative" in front of the official designation of Chronometer is merely a Rolex marketing angle to give a more distinguished sound to the chronometer status of their products in other words marketing bull. As all watches that have earned the privilege of bearing the official Swiss designation of "Chronometer" have to meet the exact same C.O.S.C. standards. Any words added before or after the official designation of "Chronometer" are merely fluff and bull which Rolex sometimes are very good at.There are not any different grades or levels for the standard Swiss chronometer certification except for the different size mechanical movements.But in todays marketing Rolex would like you to think there is.
When thinking of accuracy its very important to remember that even when a mechanical watch is allowed to vary by COSC standards +6/-4 seconds per day, that does not mean it will consistently vary by that high or low amount each day. Mechanical movements that self regulate say by resting in different positions over night its quite rare for this to happen but some do.
All Mechanical watches are noticeably affected by the gravitational pull of the Earth. It only takes a performance distortion of 1/1000th of a percent for a mechanical watch movement to be one second less accurate in a day. So to get any mechanical watch to self regulate with zero tolerance is IMHO something thats very very very rare maybe one it quite a few thousand
Likewise, "Certified Chronometer" also means nothing different than just "Chronometer." It is a redundant phrase--since Chronometer status is the certification the certified is just more marketing hype.
A chronometer certificate is not a guarantee of future accuracy only a certification of the bare movement being tested at the COSC at that time. Watch movements that have been certified can get out of adjustment and perform quite poorly and have to be re-regulated. Movements that were not certified could still exceed the COSC standards with or without just simple regulation.Many of the manufacturers may have simply chosen to bypass the expense of the certification process its quite expensive to test and adjust every single movement. But today the Swiss COSC is little more than a pure marketing tool and means little in actual performance only the fact the bare uncased movement has been tested.
The term "Superlative Chronometer" is a now trademark of Rolex. The addition of the word "Superlative" in front of the official designation of Chronometer is merely a Rolex marketing angle to give a more distinguished sound to the chronometer status of their products in other words marketing bull. As all watches that have earned the privilege of bearing the official Swiss designation of "Chronometer" have to meet the exact same C.O.S.C. standards. Any words added before or after the official designation of "Chronometer" are merely fluff and bull which Rolex sometimes are very good at.There are not any different grades or levels for the standard Swiss chronometer certification except for the different size mechanical movements.But in todays marketing Rolex would like you to think there is.
When thinking of accuracy its very important to remember that even when a mechanical watch is allowed to vary by COSC standards +6/-4 seconds per day, that does not mean it will consistently vary by that high or low amount each day. Mechanical movements that self regulate say by resting in different positions over night its quite rare for this to happen but some do.
All Mechanical watches are noticeably affected by the gravitational pull of the Earth. It only takes a performance distortion of 1/1000th of a percent for a mechanical watch movement to be one second less accurate in a day. So to get any mechanical watch to self regulate with zero tolerance is IMHO something thats very very very rare maybe one it quite a few thousand
Likewise, "Certified Chronometer" also means nothing different than just "Chronometer." It is a redundant phrase--since Chronometer status is the certification the certified is just more marketing hype.
Comment