All watch-cases in gold, silver, platinum or palladium, of foreign or local manufacture, sold in Switzerland, are subject to control and compulsory official marking.
Apart from watch-cases, that is for all other precious metal articles, and multimetal goods, the control procedure is optional.
A single official hallmark will be used for all precious metals and all fineness standards, the "head of a St. Bernhard dog":
The official hallmark bears the distinctive symbol of the Assay Office, which is positioned at the spot marked with an X.
| Distinctive symbol: | Biel/Bienne | B |
| Chiasso | T |
|
| Genève | G |
|
| La Chaux-de-Fonds | C |
|
| Le Noirmont | J |
|
| Zürich | Z |
International conventions
Official controlling and hallmarking of articles made of certified material
The official controlling (conformity testing) of articles made entirely of certified materials is less costly than the controlling of articles of unknown origin. The Ordinance on the Collection of Fees and Supervisory Levies for Precious Metals Control (PMC-FeeO; SR 941.319) takes this fact into account by granting a reduced fee for conformity assessments for articles made of certified materials (Art. 6 and Annex no. 1 PMC-FeeO).
