You know we’re getting close to Watches & Wonders when the news keeps on rolling in. Mere hours after a new Seiko announcement, Omega has entered the chat – though this news is not about a new best Omega replica watches. Instead, it is taking a page out of its book from early 2023 when it announced the development of a new movement technology called Spirate, which allowed for the regulation of a new mechanism, giving the movement a bonkers accuracy of 0/+2 seconds per day.
Today, Omega further upends the accuracy discussion by launching the Laboratoire de Précision, which is officially authorized as a testing laboratory according to ISO/IEC17025:2017 by SAS (The Swiss Accreditation Service). For half a century, accuracy testing has been done by Contrôle Officiel Suisse Des Chronomètres. We know it as COSC, and the phrase “COSC-Certified” has come to define what we consider to be the base of a truly accurate watch. Without COSC, we would not have the iconic UK luxury Omega fake watches we know branded as certified chronometers. Well, now there’s a new horse in town.
While Omega is behind the set-up and development of this new Laboratoire de Précision, it does not plan to use it just for itself. In fact, it is being built as an independent, neutral entity – the “Switzerland” of precision watches, if you will (sorry, I had to). It will be available to any and all brands that wish to certify their 1:1 online replica Omega watches there. In fact, without this stipulation of neutrality, it’s likely the undertaking would not have been certified at all.
According to Omega, the Laboratoire de Précision is accredited for, and will be measuring movements according to the standard ISO 3159 – the defining chronometer standard for a wristwatch. It has developed brand-new instruments in-house that allow for tailored testing in varying positions and temperatures.
Omega says that this allows the LdP to take more accurate measurements during the 15 days of chronometer testing according to the ISO 3159 standard. This standard outlines the positions, temperatures, and conditions a watch must undergo to meet chronometer standards according to ISO. The 15-day testing period is specifically for cheap fake Omega watches (if you care, carriage clocks get measured over 19 days and quartz watches over 13 days).
In addition to the bespoke instruments, Omega notes something very interesting. The LdP testing method will mean a continuous testing regimen throughout the 15 days, whereas the current method takes precision measurements once every 24 hours. This new testing standard purports to have a measurement accuracy ten times higher than the industry standard.
But it goes a step further because as much as there is peace of mind for the end user (consumer) who wants their top Omega copy watches to be certified to the utmost accuracy, Omega, and the LdP have brands and manufacturers in mind as well. They say this level of accurate testing will allow movement producers and brands who utilize the LdP to understand the performance of their movements much deeper than they could before. As a result, this will raise the bar for chronometric excellence writ large.
The Laboratoire de Précision will have two sites in Switzerland – Bienne and Villeret – creating a combined space of more than 10,000 sq. ft. for chronometric testing.
That’s a lot of information, and probably a lot of this has very little impact on your lives as watch collectors, but to me, it represents Omega’s focus as a brand and as a major player in the industry. We probably should have seen something like this coming after the announcement of Spirate last year (if you really want to know how it works, read Tony’s story here). The LdP is crucial to the continuing development of the Spirate system because Omega needs the most data possible in order to fine-tune its system and regulate its Swiss movements replica Omega watches to such insanely high accuracy standards.
And really, this is a massive leap from a series of stepping stones for a brand known more for its mass-market tool watches than its focus on the hyper-technical. At least, that’s the case from the outside world looking in. But if you really track Omega’s moves in the past – say – three decades, you can see how we arrived here. First was the implementation of George Daniels’ Co-Axial Escapement into its movements, taking something that would ordinarily have been relegated to the haute horlogerie fare and making it a standard across effectively its entire line – which includes super clone Omega watches for sale like the Seamaster and Speedmaster.
Omega, already known for its penchant for certifying its perfect Omega replica watches as chronometers, then took the step to integrate METAS certification into its workflow, going so far as to bring members of METAS into its manufacture to perform the testing on-site. This move differentiated Omega from the likes of Rolex and began a sort of one-upmanship between Omega and Tudor, which itself has begun METAS-certifying a selection of its AAA China fake Omega watches. Like the Co-Axial escapement, Omega eventually rolled METAS out to nearly its entire collection. Lest we also forget Omega’s move toward antimagnetism debuting a watch resistant to 15,000 gauss with the Aqua Terra Bumblebee, and now antimagnetism is core to the brand across the board.
And now it has decided to wield its power and influence by taking direct aim at the household name in accuracy: COSC. This is an exciting move from a brand that shows it’s never resting on its laurels. We need only look to the revival of the 321 movement and the development of the Chrono Chime to see what else they’ve been up to under the hood.
Just how quickly LdP catches on industry-wide remains to be seen, but you’ve got to respect such a bold move here. We’ll be monitoring the near future of the Laboratoire de Précision for sure and will report back with any developments as they get underway.