STORY KANNAN CHANDRAN The quest for value and proof of pedigree. SINCE we live a life that is built around chasing the right sorts of paper, it's not surprising we want certification for everything and anything of value.
With the passing of time, it's not surprising that the quest for value has evolved and become more sophisticated. Watches and timepieces are no exception, especially since they have grown in value.
Frankly, with the Internet and access to so much information, you should have no excuse being caught out with faux products. But, just in case you come across an offer that's too good to resist, you may want some proof of authenticity. Apart from sending it to a valuer, you could try and get all the certification that comes with the watch.
Certificates come in a variety of forms. Most watches, when purchased from a reputable retailer, will come with a nice box and a forest's worth of paperwork to ensure you have no doubts about the watch's veracity.
Collectors generally hoard everything, including the bill of sale to celebrate the moment. But, sometimes, if you get a watch that is older, some things may have gone missing, including even the original owner.
However, companies like Vacheron Constantin have archives that can trace a timepiece so that you have the date of manufacture of the watch, its serial and reference numbers, the model and a brief description, and a Certificate of Origin. This is only done after a physical inspection of the piece.
As all watches worth at least the mettle of their metal have serial numbers, most manufacturers would be able to trace their roots to some extent. If this is satisfactory to your needs, you could be a happy customer of a timepiece from yesteryears.
There are numerous other certificates that you can watch out for, and that can aid you when it comes to choosing a watch. Some watches, for instance, are accompanied by a certificate from the Swiss Official Chronometer Testing Institute (COSC), guaranteeing that you've got a chronometer on your wrist.
As with any watch, don't take things at face value. Just because it says chronometer on the case, it doesn't mean that it is. So, check that it has this certification.
Likewise, in the past, many watches had 'Geneva' on the dial to fool people into buying them. Geneva, considered the capital of watchmaking, fought back and instituted the Poin‡on de Gen_ve (Geneva Seal) in 1886. To receive this, watches had to fulfil 12 strict technical requirements, and had to be from manufacturers based in the Canton of Geneva. So, brands such as Chopard, Patek Philippe and a few others can boast this seal, and it assures the collector that they've got something valuable in hand.
In the ongoing desire for one-upmanship, several leading manufacturers are striving to introduce new methods of pushing their timepieces beyond existing boundaries.
Jaeger-LeCoultre has recently introduced the Master Control 1000 Hours, which subjects this series of watches to a thousand hours of testing. Accomplished over a six-week period, each timepiece is fixed with a numbered gold seal on the case-back and receives a certificate duly signed by the master watchmaker in charge.
