Is a Chronometer rating moot and pointless these days?

[crystalcranium]

I have had 2 certified chronometers. Both were outside chronometer specs within 2 years and were impossible to regulate back to within specs. My watch service place (an official Omega and RSC facillity) told me the watches would have to have ANNUAL servicing to stay within COSC specifications to the tune of a few hunderd dollars a year...that it wasn't just a question of re-regulating but that fresh lubrication and cleaning were necessary to stay within the narrow chronometer certification specs.

Mechanical watches that were in critical use situations like the railroad industry and in navigation were required to have MONTHLY servicing and evaluation.

Is a COSC rated watch worth it? Is it just a badge of initial honor without any practical value? I know it has no practical value in terms of the quartz comparison but...why would I spend so much more for a watch that only has a fleeting association with high quality accuracy and that requires expensive upkeep to maintain????

[fotoman]

its time for another edition deep thoughts, with Crystal Cranium

[crystalcranium]

its time for another edition deep thoughts, with Crystal Cranium

This is the stuff that attacks my brain late at night as I watch the Super Luminova fade

[By-Tor]

For someone who owns many watches, and keeps them in constant rotation I don't really care about extreme accuracy at all. Actually I wouldn't even mind about +/- 60 secs accuracy. Of course this might be different if I only wore the same watch every day (imagine how sad that would be).

No, I don't think it's a big deal... 30 seconds or 5 seconds /24h, doesn't really make any difference to me.

[takashi]

It's just a certificate... that like you said, is quite pointless. I have non certified watches (rep for this instance) that perform better than the certified movement (in terms of on timing machine as well as on the wrist).

[crystalcranium]

I guess my question wasn't so much does accuracy matter to you as it was is paying for state of the art accuracy in a mechanical watch impractical?

I'm actually an OCD accuracy freak. I love the fact that a quartz watch that I haven't worn in months is going to be 5 seconds fast when I pick it up again requiring only a brief re-hack to set it straight. I was very intrigued by Omega's incredible co-axial escapement and the quantum leap in accuracy it claims...but at what cost in servicing???

When I read reviews in WT of outstanding accuracy tests in high end calibers, I'm much less impressed these days. It's apparently easy to create a watch that is dead on accurate out of the box...it's much harder to design and manufacture one that stays there a practical amount of time.

[Sweattdogg]

Cranium, if your Omega service cannot regulate their movements within COSC specs I'd find a new servicer or maybe an independent. Servicing every year is not part of Omega's regular service, in fact they tout that the newer co-axial movments can go 7-8 years at least between servicings. You are being told a line of crap.

My answer to your first question is that I feel when buying a very high end Gen watch I want it to be COSC certified. That way out of the box it is known to perform at a certain level. Does that mean that a model using a no COSC movement will not perform as well, absolutely not! I just think it is a nice touch to a very high end watch, be in no way needed.

[b16a2]

This is a good point, however, imagine if it wasn't COSC certified, then it would run even less accurately, the further away it starts from 0, the more it will end up away from 0?

[crystalcranium]

Cranium, if your Omega service cannot regulate their movements within COSC specs I'd find a new servicer or maybe an independent. Servicing every year is not part of Omega's regular service, in fact they tout that the newer co-axial movments can go 7-8 years at least between servicings. You are being told a line of crap.

My answer to your first question is that I feel when buying a very high end Gen watch I want it to be COSC certified. That way out of the box it is known to perform at a certain level. Does that mean that a model using a no COSC movement will not perform as well, absolutely not! I just think it is a nice touch to a very high end watch, be in no way needed.

I was told that chronometer running was only insured under the 2 year warranty period and if adjustments or service was needed during that interval, it would be done free of charge...but I was told specifically that the COSC rating is only a manufacture rating, ie. that it was similar to a mileage rating on a new car and that individual performance would vary according to use. They told me Omega actually has no responsibility to insure COSC performance post sale at all...it's just an out the door rating they get from the COSC but that they do it to maintain good customer relations.

Even with an advanced, lubrication free escapement like the co-axial, I find it hard to believe Omega would insure COSC specs for 7 years...they might suggest that as a service interval to regular operation but I would think they would be eating a ton of service dollars.

[freddy333]

The COSC rating is & has always been little more than a marketing tool developed by the Swiss watch industry (with Rolex being the most prominent player) in an attempt to stem Japan's (mainly Seiko's) growing encroachment into the watch market during the 60s. As further evidence, note that none of the following high end brands submit their watches to COSC - Audemars Piguet, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Lange, IWC, Breguet & Piaget.

[Sweattdogg]

Even with an advanced, lubrication free escapement like the co-axial, I find it hard to believe Omega would insure COSC specs for 7 years...they might suggest that as a service interval to regular operation but I would think they would be eating a ton of service dollars.

Correct any watch will only be worked on for free in the warranty period. Why someone is telling you that you need a full service to have a watch regulated is complete BS. Just about any watch repair shop should be able to regulate a newer watch that started in coscs back into specs both cheap and fast. They should be able to regulated most newer movements to be more accurate.

Edited May 19, 2008 by Sweattdogg

[Nanuq]

The Rolex AD here in town doesn't provide watchmaking services, sends all their work to Seattle. I lamented being able to have a watch recalibrated without spending hundreds of dollars, and the lead sales gent told me they'll send it to Seattle for regulation and return it for $25. And that's insured both ways.

Too good to be true? I dunno... I know the Rolex watchmakers in Seattle and this might be legit.

Try the ADs in your neck of the woods to see if they offer the same services. Who knows?

As an aside, Ziggy regulated my 6536 last time he had it, and provided traces showing its performance on his timing machine.

[robj]

I have a 4 year old president and it has never been better than 5 minutes a month despite having been back to Rolex twice under warranty and once being paid for. In desperation I took it to a guy in Bangkok who sells used Rolex and repairs them etc he serviced my watch cleaned and polished it for $60 instead of Rolex $400 and it has been to within 2 minutes a month for the last 6 months

[Corgi]

I have a lot of cheap $98 miscellaneous Asian 21J watches that run in COSC time... most of my reps actually tell very precise time.

I don't think I would spend money on a gen "just because" it is chronometer certified.

[TeeJay]

I guess it depends on if the watch is likely to be re-sold or not. If it's being sold, then the COSC certificate could well be used to command a higher price.

In practical terms, no, I don't think it's worth it. I have Asian movements that run at +2 seconds a day out of the box. Well within COSC standard. I don't need a certificate to prove something I can observe myself, as I have no need to prove the reliability to myself...

In terms of accuracy of the watch itself, then I can understand the necessity to know to what standard one's watch is running, as that can then be easily adjusted for daily/weekly to keep the watch accurate.

However, another reason why such precision is somewhat redundant, is, untill everyone synchronizes their clocks and watches to the same source, everyone's clock or watch is going to be telling a slightly different time. I've always been rather OCD about my watch being precice to the GMT Time Signal, but I'll never forget one time I turned up to work, only to have a snotty member of staff with delusions of grandeur (as she was knocking off the boss) tell me I was late, and pointed at the wall clock to emphasize the point. I replied that the clock was inaccurate, and that my watch was correct as per the GMT signal. When she tried to say that it was the wall clock that mattered, I said that I, like the rest of the country, work according to the GMT signal, not the time of a wall clock which hadn't been corrected in who knows how long, and would continue to do so. She never mentioned the subject again

So bearing that in mind, while it's all well and good to have one's own clock or watch set to a reliable source, one should never forget that other timepieces might not be so studiously calibrated, and confusion can occur

[jdkno]

I have a G Shock that has atomic updates. Every morning at some point between 2 and 5 it recieves signals from the Atomic clock in Colorado. All in all it is solar powered and +/- 0 seconds a day. I one time lost track of it in the house, found it 3 months later and the time was 100% down to the second. COSC time keeping at its best for under $100.00. Not quite the fasion statement nor a high end watch to say the least but these days you will not find someone who is highly dependent on accurate time wearing a Rolex, Omega, ect..ect..

I guess if you think that over time all mechanical movements will slow down or speed up then yes the closer you start to 0 the longer it will take to vary greatly from 0 than a watch that starts out +/- 10 per day. The question is how much more are you paying for a COSC certified and is is worth anything more than a marketing tool? The SOSF is rated to 6600', if one were to do a saturation dive deep enough to need a watch that would create a need for such a watch do you really think they would be wearing a watch over a dive computer? Do you think the XO of a sub is using a Ghram to time his torpedos in the water, or a pilot using a Breitling to navigate? Its all bragging rights and ways to justify the mark up.