SUPERSEDE is our latest watch project and the mechanical engine under the sapphire crystal is our all-new K2 micro-rotor calibre. The name SUPERSEDE was coined based on K2 superseding what we had deemed possible from a micro-rotor calibre and a watch at this price level. The goal is to continually push the limits of possibility and early prototypes are exceeding expectations.
Our exceptionally talented watchmakers/engineers have a lot of experience with movement regulation. Accuracy is always paramount, so for us a chronometer certification is the baseline we must reach. However, we realize that having a movement officially certified provides both peace of mind and a certificate unique to your watch’s performance. With SUPERSEDE, we would like to learn from you if this is important, but before you vote, read on to learn more about chronometer certification. If you have already voted, thank you!
Mechanical movements come from several parts of the world, most notably Europe, Japan and China. Switzerland is the most widely recognized leader in watchmaking due in part to government investment to retain it's watchmaking history and culture, however brands in other countries are taking steps to bring chronometer level value to their customer base. “Swiss Made” definitely has prestige on its side, guaranteeing a level of quality backed by chronometer certification that can be counted on for decades or even generations. This wasn’t always the case as America was a watchmaking leader in the 19th and first half of the 20th century. By the time Hamilton ceased US production in 1969 and became a Swiss company (now under the umbrella of the Swatch Group), Switzerland was undoubtedly the capital of fine watchmaking.
“Swiss Made” is a fairly broad term, however, and another important one is “COSC Certified” or “chronometer.” This guarantees that a Swiss movement meets strict accuracy standards within -4/+6 seconds per day. COSC is an acronym for Contrôle Officiel Suisse des Chronomètres (Official Swiss Chronometer Testing Institute) and is a non-profit organization formed solely to test Swiss only movements for accuracy. Those that pass are awarded a “chronometer” designation. So, a chronometer is simply a mechanical Swiss watch that is COSC certified. COSC has been functioning in its current form since 1973 with three laboratories in Biel/Bienne (just down the road from HORAGE), Saint-Imier/BE and Le Locle. Comparable organizations exist for different regions, such as the Glashütte Observatory in Germany and Observatory at Besançon in France, while Grand Seiko has its own testing facilities in Japan. A COSC certification is the best known stamp of approval for mechanical movement accuracy, however, and only 3% of all Swiss watches are certified annually.
Vote now for Chronometer Certification https://www.horage.info/supersede
What happens when a watch is sent to one of the Swiss labs for certification?
The movement is submitted uncased and fitted with a COSC-specific dial, that then goes through a stringent visual 15-day testing process. This includes testing in five different positions and three different temperatures: 8°, 23°, and 38°C. Each day the movement is fully wound and monitored for a 24-hour period. Depending on the protocol for the day the movement is left in a specific position and temperature, and then tested via cameras for an average daily rate. Accuracy can never exceed -4/+6 seconds per day. This falls under the ISO 3159 international standard for wrist chronometers with a spring balance oscillator. During testing, seven criteria are used.
• Average daily rate
• Mean variation in rates
• Greatest variation in rates
• Difference between rates in horizontal and vertical positions
• Largest variation in rates
• Variation depending on temperature
• Rate resumption
Two independent atomic clocks are utilized for measurement comparisons, which have accuracy ratings of one second per millions of years. You can say they replace the old regulator clocks of yore. Although over a million COSC certificates are issued annually, it again represents only 3% of all Swiss watch production.
Lenny overseas all regulation at Horage.
Given that such a small percentage of watches are certified, how necessary is it?
There are a couple of perspectives on this. With quartz and computer technology, mechanical watches are rarely used for official timekeeping, whether for sports, scientific applications, etc. Mechanical movements will never rival the accuracy of quartz technology from decades ago, let alone modern quartz movements that can be accurate to one second per year. That side of mechanical timekeeping has long been obsolete, so many feel that COSC certifications are little more than a gimmick. If a watch is 10 seconds off per day instead of 6, does anyone even notice? After all there are 86,400 seconds in a day, meaning 10 seconds per day has a deviation of 0.01% and 6 seconds has a deviation of 0.007%. So, it’s a fair question, but one that also misses a point.
A COSC certification not only guarantees a high level of accuracy, but quality as well. How is this possible?
Industrialized movement production ensures consistency through sound process engineering with a return result of reliability, better serviceability and for some better precision metrics over their manufacture counterparts. Chronometers typically are industrialized movements and at Horage the focus has been to blend the best of the industrial with the bespoke modularity and decoration of the manufacture world. Due to the stringent guidelines of COSC watch and movement makers only submit their best movements or standardize COSC across their production. At Horage we standardize COSC across production to ensure that all movements are regulated to the same . Of course, you’re also getting a guaranteed level of accuracy, which adds to the experience of wearing a mechanical watch.
If “Swiss Made” is important to you, also know that only Swiss Made movements can be submitted to COSC for certification. Regardless of the fact that time almost always surrounds us today – in your car, on your computer, on your phone – millions still depend on a mechanical wristwatch. As they say, “time is money,” so the more accurate, the better. And if you’re spending significant money on a timepiece, especially thousands of dollars, you’re going to naturally demand the best performance from the movement. That’s what you get with a COSC certification. A guarantee of accuracy and performance, which in turn guarantees overall quality. This is not only a plus for the consumer, but it keeps moving brand and industry benchmarks forward.
All of HORAGE’s movements – K1, K2 and K-TOU Tourbillon – meet the accuracy standards of a chronometer (-4/+6 seconds per day). COSC certification doesn’t make one movement more accurate than another, but we again realize that it provides peace of mind to our community. All are built to the same standard, which is a rarity in the industry, especially at the price points HORAGE offers. A certified chronometer might be preferable to many, but when it comes to HORAGE, you know you’re always getting the best, regardless of a COSC certificate.
Head on over to the SUPERSEDE page and vote yes or no for chronometer certification before we move onto dial colors. https://www.horage.info/supersede
Feel free to reach out in the comments. It would be great to hear from you as I am a new addition to the Horage team of contributors.
Erik Slaven
For me COSC isn't an essential factor in the buying decision as I know what goes into the testing. The fact that they only test the movement outside of the case and they don't even have the rotor on makes the testing useless from my perspective. Movements can be altered or knocked after being sent to COSC when they get cased, therefore some may no longer fall within the testing parameters. METAS is a far better standard to truly show the accuracy of a watch, and not a movement. Have you guys checked out the new chronometer testing offered by The Horological Society of New York?
I want my watch to be as accurate as it can be……..but I don’t want a quartz watch.
if you can give me the tested accuracy, I don’t mind if it isn’t certified by COSC. I have no intention of reselling it and as an heirloom it will have its own intrinsic value.
I would love the GMT hand to be the same orange color and lumed as well. Maybe a different color lume than the hour and minute hand so it stands out. Just a thought.
How do they apply the stamp. Unless something is missing someone has to uncase the watch and probably partially disassemble it so they can stamp the dial plate.
If the watch is stationary the auto wind is not functioning
My vote is for testing of the watch as it to be delivered and at various power levels. With this an owner has measures of the rates of the watch under conditions that enable estimation of its rates as he or she expects to wear it. To my knowledge no one has done this to date.
When you test I am happy with accurate results. Well made and adjusted watches improve over the first few months of service.
Learned about this and the limits of COSC with a watch I bought long ago. It was COSC certified and ran well except after a long run, when it ran very fast. My timing machine results indicated that it was overwinding and then over banking. This is when I realized the that COSC testing without the auto wind device means its a different watch in wear than under test. This is why COSC is not fully credible.
They replaced the complete balance and told me not to try to regulate the watch ( I do re-regulate my watches, but never open them when and if the are under warantee). They told me it would be 30 seconds or so per day fast but settle in over about a week and this is exactly what I saw when I checked it.
The major cost of certification is the time it takes and my opinion is that in house measurements at various power levels over a few weeks taken with teh complete cased watch are of more value than a COSC cert.
I think a viper stamp is cool but again it means the watch is either tested uncased and than hammered on or dissembled stamped and re-cased after the test
I want measured rates or assurance they are within stated limits on the watch as delivered.
I suggest this is a very significant selling point and the reason JLC's master control testing is better than COSC. If you want third party certification I suggest you hire and outside quality assurance firm to audit, calibrate timing and certify testing.
How much more (vs COSC) would it cost to have the watch certified by the "observatoire de Besançon" ? The viper's head chronometer certification on the K2 would be the dream...
Accuracy to better than a minute in two months is an essential feature of an automatic watch as pioneered by Rolex. The combination of accuracy and automatic winding results in the crown being fixed for two months at a time providing superior water and dust resistance. Another desired feature is a reserve of teh order of 50 hours or more so one can wear another watch over a week end and not have to wind and set it when putting it on again.
This is why a certifaction is desirable, but it need not be by COSC. I trust Horage and I suspect most people likely to buy a watch from Horage also do. Timing machines and timing apps on phones are readily available to any interested. They enable interested buyers to confirm the accuracy of in house measured rates.
I find with a watch with a date, I value accuracy slightly less, if after 2 months its off by a minute or 2 its not too bad because you're going to need to readjust it due to the date being out of sync anyways.
I don't know where I fit in the watch ecosystem - I don't like quartz, but I still demand accuracy. My Multiply without certification averages 2 secs fast over weeks and months and I find that very good. My Omega with certification is about 6 seconds fast daily and its too much for me. COSC doesn't matter to me in and of itself, but real world results do. On the other hand if you want to attract more people into your tent, COSC might be a bench mark they pay attention too based on its hype in the watch world and I think more customers that feel confident about your brand is a good outcome. If COSC certification can get you that confidence with more people than I think it is worth it for Horage on this project and for the near future. If your goal on the other hand is just your existing community and making sure your watches are reliable and very good time keepers then COSC won't matter as much. Either way I look forward to the supersede.
In these days of high quality quartz watches and especially the Apple watch, accuracy and long power reserve are really table stakes in the watch business, not nice to haves. The accuracy doesn't have to be COSC but some independent certification is indeed handy.
Rather see the money spent on something else on the watch, like a limited feature addition like skeleton.
I beleive COSC is over rated, especially for automatic watches. The COSC testing is done without the auto wind so the watch runs differently there than on an active wrist wrist. This s is why Rolex suggests that their watches be re-regulated after a short period of wear when new.
During the 19070's and 1980's Rolex submitter 70 million watches without a single failure. This is unmatched quality control on their part but also shows that the test is not too demanding for a well made watch. To me, COSC is high level of mediocrity.
COSC does not test isochronism. My current watch with a silicon spring has the best isochronism I have ever seen, so COSC is missing what is likely a very strong point of your watches.
I would prefer to pay for tests similar to the Jeager LeCoultre Master control I would like to see rates in positions, temperatures, and at full 12 hours down and 24 hours down. I would also like to see dial up rates at the beginning and end of the test to see how it ages,
For the partial power tests the watch should be dial up or down simulating taking it off and laying on flat surface,
As an added touch you might consider to grade your watches by scoring them on the tests and then charge a premium for the best performers.
Details make the difference and in order to pass the COSC certficate, you pay extra attention to them!! No mediocre, I love it
For me the certificate or the rotor material are a non-issue and not worth money. If the additional cost is to be spent on something it should be a good bracelet with an adjustment mechanism, along the lines of Christopher Ward, Omega, Formex, Monta etc.
Love the K2 - but a bit disappointed to see the date window isn't matched in the colour of the dial 😥
the blue dial would be my choice
best, Chris
Super nice read. If one wants to pay an extra for COSC or not is the one thing, for us as a company it is helpful as you say. Because to be able to pass COSC in a stable way means we streamline our internal processes. Which means also non COSC certified watches from us will automatically profit from our improved internal process landscape.
Movement making is a die-hard engineering, process and tolerance game in the world of a thousand of a millimetre and in the second place its is a manufacturing game. People often confuse these things and overrate manufacturing and underrate process know how and intellectual capabilities required to create and build movements.