Contrôle Officiel Suisse des Chronometres
(C.O.S.C) Numbers for 1999 & 2000…
 
Presented by Chuck Maddox  on 19 July 2001, certain rights reserved.
Last Revised: 3 February, 2003, 14:02 GMT

 

A frequent question posted in TZ Forums are requests for actual figures for Chronometer production. Until recently the most recent listing I had was from a Ventura Catalog dated from 1997. The August 2001 issue of WatchTime has an article on the Breitling Avenger Chronograph that includes a sidebar that quotes the figures for 1999. As it is more recent than anything I have seen posted, I present those numbers here as figures for 1999... Additionally, while surfing this morning I found a listing from Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry FH website for 2000. A little bit of formatting and number crunching and here are the results...

 
C.O.S.C. Numbers for 1999
1999

Brand:

Number:
Rank
1

Rolex

584,601
2

Omega

137,750
3

Breitling

127,659
4

Bulgari

22,601
5

TAG-Heuer

13,342
6

Panerai

12,826
7

Vacheron Constantin

5,152
8

Tissot

4,838
9

Montega

4,186
10

Concord

3,319
11

Ikepod

3,287
12

Zenith

2,481
13

Ebel

2,456
14

Swatch

1,957
15

Mühle Gashütte

1,468
16

Ventura

1,384
17

Ulysse Nardin

1,280

Others

51,354

Total

981,941

Source: WatchTime August 2001, Page 34, Sidebar in article on the Breitling Avenger Chronograph...

C.O.S.C. Numbers for 2000
1999

+/-
2000

Brand:

Number:

Change:
Rank
Rank
1

1

Rolex

635,209

+50,608
3
+1
2

Breitling

148,380

+20,721
2
-1
3

Omega

146,144

+8,394
4

4

Bulgari

21,345

+1,256
6
+1
5

Panerai

19,231

+6,405
5
-1
6

TAG-Heuer

13,270

-72
-

7

Chopard

5,430

8

8

Vacheron Constantin

5,046

+106
12
+3
9

Zenith

4,902

+2,421
13
+3
10

Ebel

3,476

+1,020
-

11

Krieger

2,468

-

12

Patek Phillipe

1,803

11
-2
13

Ikepod

1,662

-1,625
17
+3
14

Ulysse Nardin

1,588

+308
9
-6
15

Montega

1,559

-2,627
15
-1
16

Mühle Gashütte

1,385

-83
-

17

Hermés

1,379

-

18

Bertolucci

1,292

10
-9
19

Concord

1,253

-2,066
-

20

Edox & Vista

1,000

Others

Others

14,436

-36,918

Total

1,032,258

+50,317

Source: Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry FH

 

 A couple of points worth mentioning about C.O.S.C. testing...

Contrôle Officiel Suisse des Chronometres (or C.O.S.C) is an independent not-for-profit organization which tests watch movements (not watches, just the movements) for a fee. To receive chronometer rating the watches are tested over 15 days in 5 different positions and at 3 different temperatures. The rate of the watch must be within +6 seconds and -4 seconds per day, in addition the greatest deviation between the fastest and slowest rate must not exceed five seconds, and the average deviation must not exceed a maximum of two seconds per day.

For more information about C.O.S.C. testing please review TZ Classic # 267 by Paul Schliesser, and TZ Classics # 1111: Reading and Understanding a COSC Certificate by Mike Disher.
 

 

It is interesting and important to note Breitling's impressive rise through the ranks. As recently as 1997 Breitling held 15th position, in 1999 it was firmly in third place and in 2000 moved ahead of Omega for second place behind Rolex albeit only slightly... This may size up to be a neck and neck battle... For a listing of the 1997 rankings, Ventura has a page on their site.

 

Statement of rights...

As the article in WatchTime is copywritten, I claim no rights over it, but then again neither can anyone other than WatchTime or the original author. I cannot personally vouch for the accuracy of either the article or the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry FH information. If they wish me to pull this I will do so... The presentation of the information however is mine and I do claim rights over this presentation of the information

-- Chuck