Chinese brand gets chronometer certification from German labortaory

China's watchmaking industry reached a milestone recently when it got a watch movement certified as a "chronometer".

The watch, from the Shancheng brand, manufactured in Dianjiang county, in Chongqing municipality, was issued the chronometer certificate by the Glashutte Observatory in Germany, according to an announcement at a news conference in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Monday.

A chronometer is mechanical timepiece tested and certified to meet high precision standards.

According to the China Horologe Association, the standard set by the Chronometer Observatory at Glashutte is the world's most rigid.

The observatory has seven testing categories, and only allows a mechanical watch a deviation ranging from minus 3.8 seconds to plus 5.8 seconds within a day.

Separately, COSC, the world's best-known mechanical timepiece certificate system based in Switzerland is only open to Swiss watches.

Speaking about the achievement, Zhang Hongguang, the director-general of the China Horologe Association, says: "It (the certification) shows that Chinese mechanical watch manufacturing has attained a high standard."