Before modern industrial certifications, the precision of watches was measured at observatories.

Specially prepared watches were submitted to long series of tests designed to assess their accuracy. These competitions and certifications played a lasting role in shaping the history of mechanical chronometry. A history that the Besançon Observatory, one of the few institutions in the world still able to award this certification, continues to write today.

It is within this tradition that three SERICA Ref. 4512 watches, assembled and specially regulated by Jean-Philippe Dodet, who initiated the project, were submitted to the Observatory.

In Besançon, this certification is distinguished by the Viper’s Head hallmark. It is awarded after sixteen days of testing on the fully assembled and finished watch, in multiple positions and under varying temperatures, at the Observatoire des Sciences de l’Univers.

Three out of Three

The result: three watches submitted, and all three certified.

These pieces are immediately recognisable by their dials, which reveal the balance endstone and escape wheel, allowing lubrication adjustments to be carried out without removing the dial and hands.

An exercise that reflects a simple conviction: to perpetuate the watchmaking tradition of chronometry, but also to pass on knowledge, inspire new vocations, and remind us that precision is, above all, the result of passion, learning and collective commitment.

Nearly two centuries after the first major chronometric trials, this pursuit of precision remains, more than ever, at the heart of our craft.