The 2019 edition of the Chronometry Contest, here we go! Embarked in an "80-day precision tour" in the most Swiss of discretions, the competing timepieces will see the public light again on 16 December 2019 when the results will be announced. In the meantime, and this is a premiere, two surprise guests, out of the competition and therefore openly, will make the different stages of this exciting competition visible and public. These are two school watches made by ET-CIFOM students from the watchmaking school in Le Locle.
Two school timepieces?
One of them has a mechanism innovation that should increase its accuracy. What better way to valuate the potential benefits of such an invention than through the 2019 Chronometry Competition, which includes several precision controls (COSC and ISO 3159 standards) and is interspersed with attacks in the form of shocks (Laboratoire Dubois) or exposure to magnetic fields (Timelab)? Because, by comparing the scores of the two pieces, academic leaders and students, all passionate about this challenge, can identify concrete conclusions.
The introduction on the competition of these two timepieces based on values such as the transmission of knowledge and the training of tomorrow's watchmakers, also offers a major advantage to the organizers: it is finally possible for them to communicate, with images in support, on the different phases of the Contest. Since these two "squatters", unlike the officially participating pieces that come from the brands, will not have to be treated in the greatest secrecy. They will be able to become sensors, witnesses of the tests they have
undergone.
Mystery suitcase, the competition is launched
On Friday, August 30, 2019, the deadline for the registration of the listed timepieces, the manufacturers' representatives personally brought their "racing creature" to the Château des Monts, the Le Locle Watchmaking Museum. There, under the age-old light of the museum chandeliers of this sumptuous historical display, they signed the official acknowledgement of receipt received from Philippe Fischer, President of the Competition. The watches were then stored in the Competition Suitcase, secured and duly insured, while awaiting their departure on the roads of the chronometric feat.
