At the current time, the 80-day precision tour that began at the deadline for the submission of watches (August 30, 2019) is being carried out in complete confidentiality, in compliance with the statutes. The two surprise guest watches, the witness timepieces provided by the Ecole d'Horlogerie du Locle (ET-CIFOM), make it possible to follow this route from the inside, which is full of pitfalls.
Participants shortage
The law of mathematics technically precludes any announcement ceremony. Because, since the first round, which is an elimination round, has passed, only one watch is still in the competition! The first reaction of the organizers, including professionals from industry as well as from the Major Control Laboratories, is to wonder about the perhaps too high severity of the rules.
Despite the intentions and keen interest from the brands, the 2019 harvest of the participating watches was particularly modest. At the beginning, there was nevertheless a real enthusiasm for these chronometric challenges, which were relaunched in 2009 by the City of Le Locle and its Watchmaking Museum, the Château des Monts. This dynamic, due to the proximity of the Baselworld calendar, had prompted the organizers to extend the registration deadline by one month.
An unusual combination of other factors seems to have killed good intentions. There were this time when for intellectual property reasons such registration has been impossible because the watch were still in the field of ongoing protected research at that time. Or a technical impossibility preventing a candidate from being measurable in the same way as others, for example because of the absence of the hands of the seconds. Finally, there is the case of this registered watch that did not appear, or the one that, at the last moment, made the choice, without explanation, to withdraw.
Précision chronométrique, une valeur sûre promise à célébratioChronometric precision, a true value to be celebrated
The Chronometry Contest remains the only competition that rejects any subjective assessment and focuses on the only controlled, fair and verifiable measure. Confronted with a rather well-stocked catalogue of reluctances, its new by-laws ruled out any risk of damage to the image, after having been the subject of a vast consultation. Within brands and factories, in the technical departments, there was no doubt about it. On the decision-making level, these values should have been even more broadly communicated.
Out of respect for the full mobilization of competent and accredited laboratories for the tests, out of respect for the encouraging and concrete commitments received from private and public sponsors, the December 6, 2019 ceremony is being maintained. It will transform the announcement of the results into a vibrant event tribute to this Swiss precision, of international renown, which, from the point of view of watch lovers around the world, continues to be highly on demand. This is the same accuracy that Swiss watch brands relentlessly profess as an incomparable value. A precision sometimes labelled Concours de Chronométrie that former winners do not hesitate to use throughout their entrepreneurial life
