Swiss made

"Swiss made" is a condition of Swiss federal law, not a marketing phrase. The instrument is the Ordinance of 23 December 1971 on the Use of the Designation "Swiss" for Watches, carried in the Swiss classified compilation as SR 232.119. The Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property states that "The revised 'Swiss Made' Ordinance for Watches entered into force on 1 January 2017".

Article 1a sets out when a watch is Swiss. In the text reproduced by the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry FH, the conditions are that "its technical development has taken place in Switzerland"; that "its movement is Swiss"; that "its movement has been cased up in Switzerland"; that "final inspection by the manufacturer took place in Switzerland"; and that "at least 60% of the manufacturing costs is generated in Switzerland". The Institute puts the cost condition as "At least 60 per cent of the costs of manufacturing a complete watch (as an end product) must be generated in Switzerland".

Article 2 applies a second, separate test to the movement: it must "have undergone technical development in Switzerland", "have been assembled in Switzerland", and "have been inspected by the manufacturer in Switzerland and at least 60% of the manufacturing costs must be generated in Switzerland and at least 50% of the value of all the constituent parts, but excluding the cost of assembly, must be of Swiss manufacture". FH records that the 2017 revision raised the movement's threshold to "a minimum rate of Swiss value of 60% (as opposed to the previous 50%)".

Two precisions. The ordinance dates from 1971; its revised version entered into force on 1 January 2017. And Article 2c removes several items from the cost calculation, among them packaging, transport, marketing and customer-service costs, and the cost of the battery.