no matter what the snobs say, japanese cars are much better
engineered than the european cars...
and american cars are pieces of crap, ranked above the PRC and
old sov bloc cars 
not only that, the european watchmakers are also frightened to
death of the japanese!
http://journal.hautehorlogerie.org/en/points-of-view/the-expert-s-view/the-21st-century-s-first-chronometry-competition-is-under-way.html
Observatory competitions were once venerable
institutions. Since 1790 in Geneva and 1866 in Neuchâtel, companies
vied to demonstrate their timepieces’ precision. In Neuchâtel,
Ulysse Nardin, Zénith, Omega and Longines regularly squared up. In
the 1950s, the competitions became marketing tools. Brands employed
teams with the sole purpose of grooming their thoroughbreds for the
race. In 1967, a few years before its demise, no fewer than 1,700
watches lined up to take part in the Neuchâtel Observatory
competition.
The impact of Japanese
brands
This is when the Japanese brand Seiko burst onto the
scene, and with it the quartz oscillator. There are still
people in Neuchâtel who remember the Japanese delegations that
descended on the town for the entire 45-day duration of the tests.
Their watches smashed existing records to smithereens even if, in a
swell of national pride, first prize went to the Centre
Electronique Horloger (forerunner to the Centre Suisse
d’Electronique et de Microtechnique) for its Bêta 21, in the late
Sixties. And yet with perfection only a whisper away, interest in
these competitions waned. The last ones were held in Geneva in 1967
and in Neuchâtel in 1972, before quartz turned the industry
upside-down.
It would be an understatement to say that Cécile
Aguillaume is intent on resurrecting an entire slice of
Switzerland’s watchmaking heritage, in what promises to be a super
production. The competition will officially begin on May 23rd 2009
with the formal submission of the timepieces to the Musée
d’Horlogerie du Locle. Competitors must have assembled, adjusted
and timed their watches themselves, in-house. Trials will be
conducted at the Besançon Observatory, the Bienne office of the
COSC, the Haute Ecole-ARC Institut d’Horlogerie et Création in Le
Locle, and again at the COSC. In addition to testing precision at
different temperatures and in different positions, the watches will
be tested for their capacity to withstand shocks and magnetic
fields.
Europe only
The competition is only open to European
manufacturers. Were the organisers afraid that
international brands might sweep the field? "Not at all. It’s a
question of logistics. Opening the competition to the
entire world would have meant communicating in Chinese and
Japanese, and we don’t have the resources for that."
(Excuses, excuses, the japanese and chinese today
speak and read/write english)
Results will be announced in early 2010, following
which the watches will go on display as part of a temporary
exhibition at the Musée d’Horlogerie du Locle, until August 31st.
By which time the committee will have decided to organise - or not,
as the case may be - a second competition.
The first 13
competitors ■
The final list of entries will be announced at the end
of the year. Thirteen competitors from three countries have so far
registered to take part. They are:
Chopard Manufacture SA,
Fleurier with the L.U.C. Tourbillon Steel Wings Classic 16/1906,
calibre Tourbillon 4 T/F
Le Petit-Fils de L.-U. Chopard & Cie
S.A., Geneva with the Tourbillon 1869, calibre L.U.C.
1.02
De Bethune with the Auberson mechanical
calibre DB 2005
Doxa SA, Bienne with the Doxa Sub, 11½
2892 ETA Chronometer
Fabrication de Montres Normandes,
Brionne, France with a hand-wound calibre
Manufacture Jaeger-LeCoultre, Le Sentier
with the Master Tourbillon, calibre 978
Manufacture Jaeger-LeCoultre, Le Sentier
with the Reverso Gyrotourbillon, calibre 174
François-Paul Journe, Geneva with the
Chronomètre Souverain, calibre 1304
Urban Jürgensen SA, Bienne with the
P8
Olivier Randin, Vufflens-le-Château with
the Christian W et Olivier R, new bidirectional self-winding
movement CLARO
Swatch SA, Bienne with the Swatch
Diaphane, calibre ETA 2824
Tissot SA, Le Locle with the Tissot Le
Locle, calibre ETA 2824-2
Christian Umscheid & Thomas Gneuss,
Austria with the ME1, ETA A07.111 base
Kari Voutilainen, Môtiers with the
rectangular calibre 27
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