The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Longtime BS fan here, although I've been on the forum a lot more these past few weeks. Since this group seems be a very knowledgeable forum, I'd like to know your opinion on COSC certification and what's it worth to you.

I can think back to when I was a younger boy, I never really liked watches, but my father actually bought me my first watch, a Swiss Army watch. From that point on, I always liked to look at watches. When I graduated from University, I said to myself that I'd reward myself from all the hard work and get myself a "high end" watch. I ended up getting a Raymond Weil Othello, and I still have it now, beautiful and original. The problem was (or is it ? ), I kept on wanting more watches. I was looking at the Oris, and got myself a Oris TT3 automatic watch.

I found out later on that my Oris didn't keep time accurately, I would lose about 15 seconds per day, went on forums and googled it and the acronym COSC came up, and that's how I started learning about COSC certification. From that point on, the next watches I would purchase would only be COSC certified, hence my love for Breitling's.

So what is your opinion COSC ? Absolute must ? Couldn't care less ? As per other forums, overrated ?

Nice topic. I am not that concerned about accuracy, if I was, I wouldn't be head over heels with mechanical watches. But, of the mechanical watches I buy, or I plan to buy in the future, I would want the most accurate of the lot. I hate it if I have to adjust the time every week or every two weeks.

Now I will never be able to afford the higher of the high end watches like PP, VC, Breguet, ALS, JLC, or even some of the Rolex pieces, you name it. To people like me, the COSC is a blessing. So far I have bought only one watch that is not COSC, a Longines chronograph and it was assuring to see that the movement actually performed within COSC specs. I just view the COSC as a guarantee of some sort.

I don't obsessively track the performance of the watch daily. However, I do consciously lay my watch down in a position different from what it was the night before. Occasionally, I timegraph it and so far the watches have always stayed within specs.

I view it as a nice to have, but certainly not a showstopper if it didn't have it. I expect a watch of this calibre to keep good time (for a mechanical), and a piece of paper doesn't change that expectation.

For me it depends on how much a watch costs. If a watch is relatively cheap, then COSC certification is a nice to have but by no means a show-stopper if it's not there.

However if a watch costs a lot more, I expect some kind of official certification, if for no other reason than it means I have cast iron recourse back to the company in the event of poor timekeeping. My fingers were well and truly burnt by IWC where they claim that COSC "isn't stringent enough" for them, so they "seek to exceed it". Needless to say, when they managed to not even get within 10s seconds of COSC on a £10K watch (despite a number of attempts on their part), I became a little less trusting and a little more reliant on COSC.

Of course, I accept that mechanical watches are never going to be quartz-accurate, and that's fine : but I do need a watch to be a little more functional than just a nice looking bracelet, and COSC is about the best chance of getting that.

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