Chronograph, Chronometer and Swiss Law
What’s the difference between a chronometer and a chronograph? Both of these words are very similar and gets easily confused. A chronometer is a certified timepiece with accuracy and a chronograph is a watch with a stopwatch.
Any watch with stopwatch functions will be called a chronograph. It doesn’t have anything to do with measuring accuracy. The elapsed time measurement function of a chronograph is some of the complications of the functions of the watch. Watches with quartz may have the same problems through mechanical gears, and dials. Other complications are alarms, moon phases, and other time related measurements that are shown with additional hands, and windows on the watch.
The need for accurate watches came from the ships that need exact precision timekeeping to allow precise celestial navigation. The word chronometer came into use in order to describe watches that would be accurate enough to navigate a ship. The only way that a watch could be certified as a chronometer is if the watch has been approved by the COSC. (Controle Officiel Suisse des Chronometeres) The COSC are the official Swiss Agency, which is responsible for certifying all of the watch movements that bears the protected and trusted keyword “Chronometer.” The COSC tests the watches with seven individual tests.
Getting technical here, for a men’s watch, it must stay within -4 to +6 seconds of variations per day during the COSC measurement at multiple temperatures and positions.
The COSC also certifies quartz watches too. Since quartz is extremely accurate, COSC certification doesn’t mean as much to the consumer. The chronometer approval doesn’t always guarantee accuracy in the future. Watches can get out of adjustment and perform poorly over time.
The Swiss law is very specific on what watches are allowed to be labels as “Swiss Made.” But it is ok to have a minor portion of the parts to be made outside of Switzerland. The majority of the parts must come from Switzerland and also the entire watch and movement of the watch must be assembled in Switzerland. When it comes to the watch casing and detaching parts, such as the wristband, these parts can be manufactured elsewhere. But the parts that aren’t from Switzerland must come unassembled and the actual assembly of the watch needs to take place in Switzerland.