Team, When, in 2014, Omega made an announcement about a new watch certification process, I confess that I took this just as another marketing gimmick. I continued with this impression until, in January 2017, I paid a visit to the Omega factories and saw the complete certification process. I was wron
Team,
When, in 2014, Omega made an announcement about a new watch certification process, I confess that I took this just as another marketing gimmick.
I continued with this impression until, in January 2017, I paid a visit to the Omega factories and saw the complete certification process.
I was wrong, completely wrong and let's see this process in detail.
The C.O.S.C. Process Before we dive to this master certification process, let's go back to the traditional C.O.S.C. (
Contrôle Officiel Suisse des Chronomètres) process.
To obtain a C.O.S.C. chronometer certificate (I'm quoting from Wikipedia, the C.O.S.C. site is in French) one of the steps are:
"
Each uncased movement is individually tested for fifteen days, in five
positions, at three different temperatures. The movements are fitted
with a seconds hand and the automatic winding mechanisms are disengaged
for the tests. ".
This means that
only the movement is tested not the complete watch.
Of course, this certification is useful to "debug" the movements and that's the main reason why Omega continue to send movement to be C.O.S.C. certified along with the fact that this certification allows the use of the word "Chronometer" on the watch dial.
A mechanical watch goes to the following tests:
(All times in seconds/day)
- Average daily rate: −4/+6
- Mean variation in rates: 2
- Greatest variation in rates: 5
- Difference between rates in H & V positions: −6/+8
- Largest variation in rates: 10
- Thermal variation: ±0.6
- Rate resumption: ±5
Some comments about this process:
1) Only the movement is certified.
2) Once the certified movement returns to the watch factory, that's the final assembly proceeds.
3) From my personal experience, a movement may be running perfectly and once is put into the case, variations can occurs.
The Master Chronometer / METAS Certification
Here we have a much more stringent testing that's a result of a partnering between Omega and the Swiss Federal Office of Metrology (METAS).
The tests includes:
- Function of COSC-approved movement during exposure to 15,000 Gauss (1.5 Tesla) magnetic field
The
complete watch (bar the strap/bracelet) enters the
certification "assembly line". This means that, once certified, no one
will touch the movement.
- Function of watch during exposure to 15,000 Gauss magnetic field
- Deviation of daily chronometric precision after exposure to 15,000 Gauss (0 to 5 sec/day)
- Average daily chronometric precision of the watch (0 to 5 sec/day)
- Power reserve (This test checks the power reserve of the watch by proving that it continues to function at the limit of its expected capacity)
- Deviation of chronometric precision in six positions (0 to 12 sec/day)
- Deviation of chronometric precision between 100% and 33% of power reserve (0 to 8 sec/day)
- Water Resistance (This test submerges the watch underwater, gradually applying more pressure up the point of the stated water resistance)
In addition to those tests, the results of each watch is posted on a Web site, where the owner can access the test results.
This site can be accessed by:
https:
(login required)
Here's the test results from one of my watches:
| Type of test |
Results |
Test limits |
| FUNCTION OF COSC-APPROVED MOVEMENT DURING
EXPOSURE TO 15,000 GAUSS (1.5 Tesla) MAGNETIC FIELD |
passed |
15,000
gauss |
| FUNCTION OF WATCH DURING EXPOSURE TO 15,000
GAUSS MAGNETIC FIELD |
passed |
15,000
gauss |
| DEVIATION OF DAILY CHRONOMETRIC PRECISION AFTER
EXPOSURE TO 15,000 GAUSS |
0,2
sec / day |
0
to 5 sec/day |
| AVERAGE DAILY CHRONOMETRIC PRECISION OF THE
WATCH |
1,8
sec / day |
0
to 5 sec/day |
| POWER RESERVE |
passed |
60
hours |
| DEVIATION OF CHRONOMETRIC PRECISION IN SIX
POSITIONS |
2,5
sec / day |
0
to 12 sec/day |
| DEVIATION OF CHRONOMETRIC PRECISION BETWEEN
100% and 33% OF POWER RESERVE |
1,3
sec / day |
0
to 8 sec/day |
| WATER RESISTANCE |
passed |
60
bar (600 m/2000 ft)
|
Before someone asks, here's the watch:
Not bad, for a diver chronograph.
Conclusions
When I got an Omega Master Chronometer watch, the first thing that I do is to scan the Master Chronometer card (an App is available - Search for "Omega Scanner" on the App store) and see the results.
Those results, contrary to the C.O.S.C ones, gives to me a true expectation of the watch performance and makes me comfortable that all parameters are correct.
Kudos to Omega for doing a true full disclosure about their products and assuring us that what we got was truly tested.
Thanks for reading.
Cheers,
Nilo
