Origin labels

Any watch sold as Swiss made has to meet the Swiss ordinance. In Germany the Glashütte rule binds every maker that puts the town’s name on a dial, among them A. Lange & Söhne, Glashütte Original, Nomos Glashütte and Mühle-Glashütte; makers elsewhere in Germany are held to the general rule for “Made in Germany”.^{1, 2, 3, 6, 7}

The words are governed by an ordinance of the Swiss Federal Council, dated December 23, 1971, and issued under the federal trade mark law. A watch counts as Swiss when its technical development took place in Switzerland, its movement is Swiss, the movement was cased up there, the maker’s final inspection happened there, and at least 60 per cent of its manufacturing costs arose there.^1, 6

The movement has rules of its own: it must be developed, assembled and inspected in Switzerland, at least 60 per cent of its manufacturing costs must be Swiss, and Swiss-made parts must make up at least half the value of its components. Packaging, transport, marketing, after-sales service and the battery are left out of the sums.¹

The Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry (FH) began the push to tighten these rules in 2007. The revision, in force from January 1, 2017, added a value threshold for the whole watch rather than the movement alone, raised the threshold for a Swiss movement from 50 to 60 per cent, and counted research and certification costs as Swiss value. The FH also defends the label abroad and has registered “Swiss made” and “Swiss” as certification marks in the United States and Hong Kong.^6, 8

Until 2022 the town’s name was protected only through lawsuits. WatchTime says a judgment of the Munich regional court of January 27, 1993, set the “Glashütte rule”, that half a watch’s value must be created in the town, but bound only the parties; it calls the 2022 ordinance only the second German origin name with an ordinance of its own, after Solingen for blades in 1938, and reports that the Glashütte makers it asked welcomed it.⁷

The Glashütteverordnung of February 22, 2022, issued by the Federal Ministry of Justice under the trade mark law with the consent of the Bundesrat, reserves the name in trade for watches made in the area of origin: the town of Glashütte; the Altenberg districts of Bärenstein and Lauenstein for supplies and finishing; and Dresden for plating, rhodium plating and laser work on movement parts.²

A watch qualifies when the assembly and starting of its movement, its regulation, the fitting of dial and hands and the casing all take place in the town itself, and when more than 50 per cent of the value added in the essential stages (making the movement, casing it and the final inspection) is created in the area; chronometer certification counts when it is done there. The ordinance is to lapse once the European Union’s intellectual property office decides on registering the name under the EU’s 2023 regulation on craft and industrial geographical indications.²

The mark began abroad, with the British Merchandise Marks Act of 1887, meant to stop British buyers being misled about imported German goods; IHK Stuttgart notes that the warning label later turned into a sign of quality.⁴

No German law defines “Made in Germany”, and marking goods with it inside Germany is voluntary. What protects it is the rule of the trade mark law that an indication of geographical origin may not be used for goods from elsewhere where it would mislead, together with the law against misleading advertising. Courts decide case by case, by what buyers take the words to mean; in 2011 the Düsseldorf higher regional court held that all essential manufacturing steps must take place in Germany, and that goods made abroad with German machines and know-how do not qualify.^3, 4, 5