Checkout the list of top 10 Interesting facts you don’t know about the famous Swiss luxury watches:
They Have a Lot of Amazing Built-In Features
On most luxury watches, there are a lot of features aside from telling the time that is overlooked or not used because people don’t know what they are for.
Some of these additional features are sunrise and sunset times, a perpetual calendar, a celestial map of New York, and phases of the moon. On top of this, some watches have sidereal time; this shows the time based on the motion of the earth relative to the start, rather than the sun. There are other features that can be added to the watch, but these are the most common ones.
Royal Families Wear Them
It is a well-known fact that Swiss Luxury watches are expensive but what people don’t know is that a lot of royal family members wear these watches because of the mechanical design and traditional look. A brand like Patek Philipe & Co that was founded in 1851, produces watches that are classic and worn by members of the royal family.
They Are Not Easy To Make
Luxury watches are not just normal wristwear; they are works of art with lots of technologies contained inside them. Swiss Luxury watches are expensive to make and difficult to machine steel. Swiss luxury watches movements are all hand-assembled and tested.
Most watches are made from stainless steel called 316 L. However, luxury watches use better quality stainless steel.
They Employ a Lot of Skilled People to Make Them
To create Swiss Luxury watches, you need a lot of highly skilled people. Because the watches need to be high-end and precise, over 56,000+ highly skilled people are employed in the watch-making industry in Switzerland. They’re employed by top Swiss watch brands like the Swatch Group, Rolex, LVMH, and smaller family-run businesses.
They Have the Most Accurate Clock
Swiss Luxury watches in Switzerland have the most accurate clock that is not actually mechanical or electrical; it’s atomic. It’s reported that if you checked the time in 30 million years, it would still tell you the exact time. Atomic clocks work by measuring energy particles, and they are not radioactive. This is a pretty neat feature that is durable and accurate.
The Law Defines a Swiss Watch
Regulating the use of the name “Swiss” on watches is not that easy. The law actually defines a Swiss watch as a definition that is dependent on certain aspects of its movement. The law then goes on to define under what circumstances a watch movement may be considered Swiss-made. There are also conditions for the use of the name on Swiss Luxury watches.
Swiss Watch & Swiss Watch Movement
There is actually a different mechanism between the Swiss watch and Swiss watch movement to distinguish if a watch is Swiss-made. For example, if the movement has been cased up in Switzerland, it is Swiss.
The components of Swiss manufacturers account for at least 50% of the total value, ignoring taking the cost of assembly. This law will change on January 1, 2017, to 60% instead of 50%.
The Use of ‘Swiss’on Watches in 1995
The Swiss Federal Council modified the ordinance regulating the use of the “Swiss” name for watches in May 1995. This was to bring the requirements of the Swiss watchmaking industry to a rubric like those of the European Union. The revision made it possible to affix indications of “Swiss made” on foreign watch cases and dials intended to equip Swiss watches.
Production is Specific
Any mechanical watch in which at least 80% of the production cost is attributable to operations carried out in Switzerland would be considered as a mechanical Swiss watch. For other watches, particularly electronic watches, this rate would be 60%. The technical construction and prototype process would moreover need to be carried out in Switzerland as raw materials, precious stones, and the battery would be excluded from the production cost.
There are Lots of Fake Swiss Watches
There are said to be over 40 million fake Swiss labeled watches that are sold every year. To help prevent this, the “Fake Watches for Fake People” campaign was launched by the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry & Haute Horlogerie, and they are trying to fight the influx of fake watches being distributed.
(Related: 12 Best Watch Brands for Women).
Iskra Banović is our seasoned Editor-in-Chief at BlueFashion. She has been steering the website's content and editorial direction since 2013. With a rich background in fashion design, Iskra's expertise spans across fashion, interior design, beauty, lifestyle, travel, and culture.
