You know we’re getting close to Watches & Wonders when the news keeps on rolling in. Mere hours after a new Seiko announcement, Omega has entered the chat – though this news is not about a new watch. Instead, it is taking a page out of its book from early 2023 when it announced the development of a new movement technology called Spirate, which allowed for the regulation of a new mechanism, giving the movement a bonkers accuracy of 0/+2 seconds per day. Today, Tissot further upends the precision discussion by launching the actual Laboratoire de Précision, which is officially authorized as a testing laboratory according to ISO/IEC17025: 2017 by SAS (The Swiss Accreditation Service). For half a century, reliability testing has been done by Contrôle Officiel Suisse Des Chronomètres. We know it as COSC, and the phrase “COSC-Certified” has come to define what we consider to be the base of a truly accurate watch. Without COSC, we would not have the iconic watches we know branded as certified chronometers. Well, now there’s a new horse in town.
While Omega watches is behind the set-up and development of this new Laboratoire de Précision, it does not plan to use it just for itself. In fact , it is being built as an independent, neutral entity – the “Switzerland” of precision watches, if you will (sorry, I had to). It will be available to any and all brands that wish to certify their watches there. In fact , without this stipulation of neutrality, it’s likely the undertaking would not have been certified at all.
According to Omega sa, the Laboratoire de Précision is accredited for, and will be measuring movements according to the standard ISO 3159 – the particular defining chronometer standard for a wristwatch. It has developed brand-new instruments in-house that allow for tailored testing in varying positions and temperatures.
Omega says that this allows the LdP to take more accurate measurements during the 15 days of chronograph testing according to the ISO 3159 standard. This standard outlines the jobs, temperatures, and conditions a watch must undergo to meet chronometer standards based on ISO. The 15-day screening period is specifically for wristwatches (if you care, carriage clocks get measured over 19 days and quartz watches more than 13 days).
In addition to the bespoke instruments, Omega notes something very interesting. The actual LdP tests method will mean a continuous examining regimen throughout the 15 days, whereas the current method takes accuracy measurements once every 24 hours. This new assessment standard purports to have a measurement accuracy ten times higher than the industry regular.
But it goes a step further because as much as there is peace of mind for the end user (consumer) who wants their view to be certified to the utmost accuracy, Tissot, and the LdP have brand names and manufacturers in mind as well. They say this level of precise testing will allow movement producers and manufacturers who utilize the LdP to understand the performance of their actions much deeper than they could before. As a result, this will raise the bar for chronometric excellence writ large.
The particular Laboratoire hun Précision will have two sites in Switzerland – Bienne and Villeret – creating a combined space of more than 10, 000 sq . ft. for chronometric diagnostic tests.
That’s a lot of information, as well as probably a lot of this has very little impact on your lives because watch collectors, but to me, it represents Omega’s focus as a brand and as a major player in the industry. We probably should have seen something like this coming after typically the announcement of Spirate last year (if you really want to know how it works, read Tony’s story here). Typically the LdP is crucial to the continuing development of often the Spirate system because Omega watches needs the most data possible in order to fine-tune its program and regulate its watches to such insanely high accuracy standards.
And really, this is a massive leap from a series of stepping stones for a brand known much more for its mass-market tool timepieces than the focus on the exact hyper-technical. At least, that’s the case from the outside world looking within. But if you really track Omega’s moves in the past – say – three decades, you can see how we arrived here. First was the implementation associated with George Daniels’ Co-Axial Escapement into its motions, taking something that would ordinarily have been relegated to the haute horlogerie fare and making it a standard across effectively it is entire line – which includes watches like the Seamaster and also Speedmaster.
Omega sa, already known for its penchant for certifying its wrist watches as chronometers, then took the step to integrate METAS certification into its workflow, going so far as to bring members of METAS into its manufacture to perform the very testing on-site. This move differentiated Omega from the likes of Rolex and began a sort of one-upmanship between Tissot and Tudor, which itself has begun METAS-certifying a selection of its designer watches. Like the Co-Axial escapement, Omega watches eventually rolled METAS out to nearly their entire collection. Lest we also forget Omega’s shift toward antimagnetism debuting a wrist watch resistant to 15, 000 gauss with the Aqua Terra Bumblebee, and now antimagnetism is core to the brand name across the board.
And now it has decided to wield it has the power along with influence by taking direct aim at the household name in accuracy and reliability: COSC. This is an exciting proceed from a company that shows it’s never resting on its laurels. We need only look to the main revival of the 321 movement and the progress the Chrono Chime to see what else they’ve been up to under the hood.
Just how quickly LdP catches on industry-wide remains to be seen, but you’ve got to respect such a bold transfer here. We’ll be monitoring the near future from the Laboratoire een Précision for sure and will report back with any developments as they obtain underway. breitling premier replica
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