News 
Every two years the International Meeting ISO/TC 114 – Horology gathers together experts from around the world. Delegations met in Lucerne last May. Several topics were on the agenda, including the revision on divers’ watches.
Lucerne and its region are without a doubt one of the most picturesque area of the country, with Lake Lucerne, the surrounding mountains and the unmissable Chapel Bridge. The symbol of the bridge was in fact at the heart of the 22nd Meeting ISO/TC 114 which took place between 18 and 22 May 2015 at the Lucerne Grand Hotel National. The work carried out and the various exchanges enabled delegations to get closer together in a perfect spirit of professionalism, serenity and conviviality.
This international meeting enabled experts from 6 delegations (China, France, Hong Kong, Japan, Switzerland and United Kingdom) to discuss, further advance or finalize several standardization projects in the watchmaking field.
One of the main topics of the week was the revision of the ISO 6425 – Divers’ watches standard. The revision of this standard was started in 2014 and the Swiss delegation in charge of this revision presented the extensive work carried out in preparation for this meeting. The main changes include a more “consumer” related approach to the standard, references to existing standards, a modernized structure as well as clarified and sequenced test methods.
The last minor corrections were made to the ISO 1413 – Shock-resistant watches draft standard. It will be submitted to a final vote during the summer of 2015 and the standard will then be officially released.
Regarding watches made of hard material, the Technical Specification draft was finalized and will be published for a period of 3 years. During this time, a standard project on watch case parts made of hard materials will be initiated.
China presented a new standard proposal on the packaging and transport of table and wall clocks.
The Swiss delegation also made a presentation on the magnetic environment of watches. This included a historical background on work carried out for the current ISO 764 – Magnetic resistant watches standard and a critical analysis of its content. The objective was to lead to start working on the revision of this standard. Despite the various exchanges of arguments and the discussions that followed, the delegations present requested more time to reflect on the topic and postponed their decision to the end of 2015.
Batteries including watch batteries are dealt with in another technical committee (IEC/TC 35) and a presentation was made by one of its members during the working session in Lucerne. Work mainly concerned the geometry of battery cells, the transport restriction for lithium batteries and the finalization of the IEC 62466 draft standard.
Finally, a new project for an international standard on antireflection coatings on watch glasses was launched and a working group created. Without a doubt the Swiss delegates will contribute to it with their expertise as a similar NIHS standard is currently in its last stages.
During this meeting, around 10 resolutions were adopted to crown all the work carried out. It should also be noted that all decisions were accepted unanimously, thus avoiding any potential discussions or negotiations at a later stage.
An excursion around Lucerne and up to Mount Pilatus ended the week which was perfectly organized by the FH and the ISO/TC 114 secretariat. This event was thus completely successful and much appreciated by all participants.
It is on such positive notes that delegations took leave of one another and arranged to meet in 2017 for the next International Meeting ISO/TC 114 – Horology which will take place in Hong Kong during the annual "Watch & Clock Fair".
June 18, 2015