General Overview of The Geneva Seal
The Geneva Seal is the quality seal of the City and Canton of Geneva. It is a certification reserved for wrist and pocket watch movements made in the City or Canton of Geneva. Although it is concerned mainly with the finishing and decoration of the watch movement, it is considered a high accolade in the industry. Precision testing, however, is an option in the inspection process. Among the Geneva watchmakers who regularly submit their movements for the Geneva Seal certification are: Cartier, Chopard, Roger Dubuis and Vacheron & Constantin.
This quality seal has been authorized since the enactment of the enabling regulation in 1886. Pursuant to the law only watches may carry the seal. The seal is concerned with the quality and finishing of the watch movement, however, it does not address the precision of the timekeeping mechanism. The seal is awarded to watches only after an "official examination" to discern whether the watch movement possesses all the required characteristics required for the accolade. The characteristics require, at a minimum, that the watch was made in or made on commission by a qualified Genevoise craftsman from the City or Canton of Geneva.
A somewhat similar certification the Qualité Fleurier or Fleurier Quality which was begun on June 5, 2001,includes precision testing. Participants in this certification process include: Bovet Fleurier, Chopard, Parmigiani Fleurier and Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier. See also Wikipedia entry for Qualité Fleurier (French language text).
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