What Does Swiss Movement, Swiss Parts and Swiss Made Mean for My Watch?

When it comes to watches, Switzerland has a reputation for excellence, with the Swiss watch movement becoming a byword for the finest quality in the industry. However, today, you will often find watches described as Swiss made, or featuring Swiss parts, and there is a lot of confusion between these three concepts. To help you find the right watch to meet your needs, we take a look behind the marketing speak to better understand what each of these are.

What is a Swiss Movement Watch?

What is a watch movement? The movement is the mechanism inside the watch that regulates the time, the heart of your watch as it were. There are a number of types available, and the difference between watch movements dictates how accurate the watch is, whether they need batteries or winding to maintain operation and so on. What makes swiss watches special? A swiss movement watch is one in which the movement meets some specific Swiss federal Council criteria:

• The entire movement is assembled in Switzerland.

• A complete quality control process is carried out by the manufacturer in Switzerland.

• There must be at least 50% of the value of the whole movement (not the watch) should comprise of Swiss-made components.

• At least 60% of the movement must be produced in Switzerland.

  
  

With those criteria met, then the watch can legally be described as a Swiss Movement watch.

What is a Swiss Made Watch?

Watches that are labelled Swiss Made are seen as high-quality, luxury watches that can command a premium price. It makes sense then, that to use the label, there are some set criteria the watch must meet. Here we see the difference between Swiss made and Swiss movement.

Those criteria are:

• The movement must be fitted into its case in Switzerland.

• That movement must be a Swiss Movement.

• All final quality control is carried out in Switzerland hand have the Swiss Made label applied.

• 60% of the total production cost for a quartz movement watch must be Swiss, 80% if the watch has a mechanical movement.

• The technical development of the movement must take place in Switzerland.

As we can see, there is a significant difference between a watch with a Swiss movement and a Swiss-made watch. One area that may need explanation is knowing what does quartz movement mean in watches. Quartz movements are those that use a quartz crystal to keep time, they need batteries to power them. Mechanical movements are those that have a winder, using mechanical spring tension to power the watch.

What are watches with Swiss Parts?

As with every industry, watchmaking today is global, with watches being made on every continent. Watches that include Swiss parts, but do not feature movements specifically assembled in Switzerland, or fail to meet the other criteria laid out for Swiss movement and Swiss-made, are considered watches with Swiss parts.