Dr. Ito's in-depth analysis of mechanical watches!! Vol.36 - What are the shipping standards for luxury watches?

Good evening everyone!

This column talks about mechanical watches from an engineer's perspective. This is the 36th installment.

"What are the shipping standards for luxury watches?"

I will be talking about this topic here.

There are countless luxury watch models available, ranging in price from hundreds of thousands of yen to tens of millions of yen. Because of their high prices, it is understandable that all customers want their watches to be in perfect condition.

However, even if a luxury item is new, it is natural for it to have visible scratches and variations in accuracy. This time, we will talk about the "shipping standards" for luxury watches.

What are shipping standards?

"Shipping standards" generally refer to the quality and condition standards that must be met when shipping a product or item. They are the rules and conditions that a company uses to determine whether a product is in a certain condition before offering it to the market or customers.

The purposes of shipping standards include:

・Stabilizing quality: Maintaining consistent quality and not releasing defective products to the market

・Improve customer satisfaction: Let customers purchase products with peace of mind

・Reduce complaints: Prevent problems caused by initial defects before they occur

Building trust: Protecting the reputation of your brand and company

Shipping standards for luxury watches

Shipping standards in the luxury watch industry are set at extremely high standards in terms of precision, appearance, functionality, quality assurance, etc. As it is an expensive purchase, customer expectations are naturally high, and this is extremely important in order to protect the reliability and value of the brand.

Below, we will explain the main points.

Appearance: The case, dial, hands, crystal, etc. must be free of scratches, dirt, misalignment, and unevenness. Uniformity of the finish, such as polished or hairline finishes, is particularly important.

Accuracy (rate) – The acceptable range of gain or loss over a certain period of time. Varies depending on the brand and certification standards.

-Waterproof performance - Waterproof tests (pressurization, decompression, etc.) must be conducted according to the model and standards must be met.

- Power reserve - Does it meet the duration specified for each model?

- Assembly and hand setting accuracy - Are the hand mounting positions and the timing of the date change (midnight ± minutes) within the standard?

It is clear that the standards required for luxury watches are much higher than the general quality standards, and each brand is making various efforts to meet customer expectations.

Examples of characteristics by brand

[Rolex] - After passing the COSC chronometer test, the watch is inspected in-house after the case is assembled to a precision standard of -2 to +2 seconds per day.

[Patek Philippe] -- Adopts the "Patek Philippe Seal," a stricter standard than COSC, within -3 to +2 seconds per day.

[A. Lange & Söhne] - After assembly, the movement is completely disassembled and reassembled before shipping (twice assembled). We strive for perfection in finish and precision.

For a long time, the COSC (Swiss Official Chronometer Testing) accuracy standard of -4 to +6 seconds per day was the mark of proof for high-precision mechanical watches, but now each brand has set its own standards that exceed this standard and is working to improve precision.

Is a luxury watch perfect?

It goes without saying that watches from famous luxury brands are of high quality, and it is no surprise that customers who purchase them have high expectations.

However, no matter how high the quality, there will be individual differences between products, and each manufacturer has its own shipping standards and tolerance ranges.

Even a brand new luxury watch may have slight scratches on the dial or tiny specks of dust when viewed with a magnifying glass, and even a shiny case may have tiny scratches that can only be seen with a magnifying glass.

These are not defective products at all, and most of them were shipped after the manufacturer deemed them to be "no problem." It's not good for your mental health to worry too much about tiny scratches that are invisible to the naked eye, so I think it would be best to look at them with as open mind as possible.

Also, regarding accuracy, it is important to understand that the shipping standard values for each brand are not guaranteed regardless of who uses it or how, and that they will vary depending on each user's usage conditions.

summary

Shipping standards for luxury watches are very strictly controlled based on the idea that "brand value = quality." The more expensive the watch, the stricter the shipping standards become, but please remember that "perfection" does not exist and there is a certain "tolerance" that must be met.

We hope that this article has been useful to you and has sparked even a little interest in luxury watches! If you have any questions, please feel free to ask us directly and we will be happy to answer them. We look forward to your visit and inquiries.

Please look forward to the next one!