News 
The 2019 edition of the Chronometry Contest is under way! Currently involved in an “80-day precision tour” since August 30th 2019 amid characteristically Swiss discretion, the competing timepieces will finally be back in the public spotlight again on December 16th 2019 when the results will be announced.
Meanwhile, in a first for this contest, two surprise guests, out of the competition and therefore able to appear openly, will make the different stages of this exciting competition visible and public. These are two school watches meticulously made by ET-CIFOM students from the watchmaking school in Le Locle.
One of them has a mechanism innovation that should increase its accuracy. What better way to evaluate 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)? 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 organisers a major advantage: it is finally possible for them to communicate, backed by pictures, on the different phases of the Contest. That is because these two “interlopers”, unlike the officially participating pieces that come from the brands, will not have to be treated in the greatest secrecy. They will thus serve as sensors, bearing witness to the tests they have undergone.
September 19, 2019