A little knowledge of Swiss watches, will have heard Observatory certified watches, this certified watch, will be equipped with a "COSC certificate", which is "the Swiss official observatory testing agency" acronym. What exactly does this institution do? What exactly do they authenticate? How can they issue these certificates? Although the Observatory certified watches only account for 3% of the total amount of Swiss watches, but its popularity by the market, we still insist on finishing some detailed information to explain. For many in the country, the Chronometres on the dial are easily confused with the Chronograph, and we need to emphasize that the COSC and the Chronograph are two Completely different concept. According to the definition of COSC, a precision timer is a high-precision watch with the function of displaying the number of seconds, and its self-made movement is subject to rigorous testing conducted by COSC for several days at different positions and temperatures After the movement to meet the ISO3159 accuracy standards, COSC will be issued a official official of the precision timer. What is "ISO3159 standard"? The observers at the Swiss Observatory paid tribute to it with the smile as the Bible of precision timers. The most important principle in the other provisions of this standard is based on certain qualifications, and if you want to pass the certification, you need to meet all the criteria. The table below summarizes it. Statistical accuracy Accurate statistics, take 2010, a total of 1276714 machine passed the Swiss official observatory certification. Mainly mechanical movement, even if the certification of quartz movement is very unusual, but not without (in 2010 only 19799 certified). Swiss Observatory, an independent and official agency, is a legally not-for-profit organization formed by a federation of five major watchmaking centers (Berne, Geneva, Nacalta, Solothurn and Vaud) and the Swiss Watch Industry Federation (FH ) Was founded in 1973. Swiss official observatory will release the number of certificates obtained by each brand. However, inadvertent information exchange is usually confidential for some companies. According to the data released by the COSC in 2010, the high-yielding households certified by the three major Swiss official observatories are: Rolex 611424 Movement Pass Certification, Omega Pass 42798 Movement Recognition, and Breitling 122,649. The three brands accounted for the vast majority of applications. While the number of other brands are Chopin 34254, Panerai 26291, Mido 25384, TAG Heuer 24541, Plum 13335. The brand's passing rate to the Observatory's center is not passing, almost every year, accounting for about 5% of the inspection volume. A 16-day testing process The certification process will last 16 days. Each inspection of the movement will be engraved with a unique certification number, and in the testing process will use an ordinary dial, the standard set by the Swiss official observatory. The dial contains a series of parameter points so that when the movement is placed under the lens, it can be completely centered and the test is less sensitive to the limits of the movement. All sent to the Swiss Observatory's movement, their brands are required to be an exhaustive list of their technical parameters, such as: Movement with the motherboard, you need to install during the test. Each part has its own barcode for easier and more comprehensive tracking. Therefore, the first step is to enter each COSC computer system unique identification code, the second step is in the automatic winding before, wrapped on the tray, before the first round of testing, Let it stand still for 24 hours. In the next 15 days (including Saturday and Sunday, including), is a series of repeated tests. In the first step, the time displayed by the watch needs to be recorded separately on a server controlled by the atomic clock. According to this time parameter, it can measure the continuous limit of movement in operation. Between two tests, the movement was placed in 5 different positions (3:00 vertical, 6:00 and 9:00 with horizontal dial upward and upward movement) and 3 different test temperatures: 23 ° C, 8 ° C and 38 ° C. The daily test determines the state of the working heart (in other words, the time displayed by the movement) and the reference time. As the Swiss Observatory said, taking into account the variation of each of the movements' own amplitude and some inherent mechanical perturbations, this "state-of-the-art" measurement allows the movement to move over time It is possible to integrate the state. The test operation uses an industrial vision system: an ancillary component of an image sensor and optical sensor that detects the position of the second hand on the dial. Data recording and calculation are automatic. The same manual steps are used for special features of the movement, such as the escapement, or for the unique parts of the independent test report that will be used to enter the finished product list for the next round of precision timer competition. However, as the size of the movement has been increasing over the past decade, the detection equipment of the Swiss Observatory has to be changed. Well, what is the cost of certifying branded watches as "precision timers?" For a series of machines , the cost of each chronograph is 5.25 Swiss francs , however, with a special case of manual control, the price is 130 Swiss francs . (For example, Rolex 's test costs up to more than three million Swiss francs , which does not include management costs) The value of certification Is this all worth it? The answer is yes. Swiss official observatory certification can add value to watch the reputation, it has not mentioned, certified Swiss watches only 3%. However, there is absolutely no shortage of derogatory members in this system. In these criticisms, there is only the detection of a bare-metal heart instead of the inspection of an entire table. After the test also need to be installed inside the watch case, this process may lead to failure of the machine, so this test does not explain the movement is really very good, as well as the Observatory certified automatic mechanical movement, need to be removed Wheel detection! Bernard Dubois, head of the Swiss branch of the Observatory's Bill, said he understands these questions. However, testing such a large number of shelled watches each year requires a complete range of testing instruments and procedures as the specifications of each watch are different. In addition, how to accurately test the operation of colorful dials with different readability is also a problem. As a result, the Swiss official Observatory certification remains a very valid document, even though the data and stability of the Observatory's test will be affected more or less during the assembly process. In this case, the brand should enhance its own assembly process in the assembly process and all they have to do is maintain a high degree of alertness in the quality of the assembly and carry out very rigorous testing. This is quite important. Because you think about how many customers can accept this result, those with certified watches go faster or slower than the official claims, which not only leads to the credibility of the Swiss official observatory certification, but also to the entire Swiss watch industry, causing a huge impact. Therefore, maintaining the Swiss official Observatory certificate as a permanent and powerful marketing tool is self-evident for the importance of marketing nowadays.