What is the definition of a "chronometer"?

Question

How can Rolex and Omega be condsidered chronometers?
My Seiko Kinetic gains only one second every other day.
My Rolex and an Omega and both lose betweem 2-3 seconds a day. I was curious and tested them. Makes me sick!

Answer 1

Seiko kinetic is not a mechanical or automatic watch it is a quartz watch. Quartz watches are always much more accurate than mechanical watches.
The accuracy of a watch or clock depends on the number of oscillations per second. the more oscillations per sec the more accurate it can be set so a quartz watch oscillating at 32,768 /sec is going to be more accurate than your Rolex at 6 / sec.

Your Seiko should NOT be going that fast.
I am guessing your your Rolex and omega are both mechanical/automatic.

There are many variables that affect the rate of mechanicals like temperature, movement etc and to get one working as well as yours are is excellent, especially for the omega.
If your Rolex and omega is a proper chronometer then your watch when it was new was sent to a special testing center and had to meet a certain standard
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COSC
It only had to do this when it was new. After a few years the watch probably would not pass the same test.

Answer 2

chronometer, noun.
a clock or watch that keeps very accurate time. A ship's chronometer is used in determining longitude at sea from the time.

Advertising people will gladly promise anything.

Answer 3

Applied to a wrist watch, the title is just pretentious advertising. Unless the the quartz crystal is thermally stabilized, which takes too much power for a wrist watch, temperature variations will limit its accuracy, and one quartz movement is as good as another.

Answer 4

1. a timepiece or timing device with a special mechanism for ensuring and adjusting its accuracy, for use in determining longitude at sea or for any purpose where very exact measurement of time is required.
2. any timepiece, esp. a wristwatch, designed for the highest accuracy.

Answer 5

An exceptionally precise timepiece.

Answer 6

stopclock or stopwatch, used to measure small intervals of time.you can start and stop it whenever you want and readat leisure.

Answer 7

http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=chronometer

Answer 8

one designed to keep time with great accuracy