Many watches tout that they are “Swiss made” and will print it on their watch faces. I am wondering if this means anything? Are Swiss made watches just better than (say) German made or Japanese made watches?
What does “Swiss made” actually mean? I know in today’s global markets various parts are often made in many places and then assembled. Your car is likely the product of many countries even if it is an American or German or whatever brand.
Even among Swiss made watches there is variation in price and quality.
As a consumer should I care if a watch is Swiss made or is is just a marketing term?
Some Swiss watches are generally acknowledged as the highest quality and most accurate timepieces made. Those are also the most expensive with differing opinions of whether they are worth the higher price. I think ‘Swiss Made’ is mostly marketing term but sets some kind of standard for watches.
I think “Swiss Made” is not as important as “Swiss Made Certified” when it comes to watches. Certified Swiss watches have to meet some standards set by industry or the Swiss gov’t. or industry.
A brief check says “COSC” is the ceritifcation standard organization.
“The Contrôle officiel suisse des Chronomètres, the Official Swiss Chronometer Testing Institute, is the institute responsible for certifying the accuracy and precision of Swiss watches…”
Still, I doubt any of the finest mechanical Swiss watches can beat the accuracy of a $10 quartz Casio.
That’s a very interesting question. Around here quite a few top shelf products use some variant of the word Swiss or the Swiss flag or its colors to indicate their quality, and they generally are of very good quality (and I buy them). But I would also be interested to know about any official regulated branding or certification.