Not too long ago the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie (FHH), released a white paper that took them over 3 years to complete, which was supposed to define for us all mere mortals what "fine watchmaking" really is. To do this, the established a "Cultural Council" made up of 46 "experts" that would judge all brands and watches across a series of criteria both subjective and objective.

The end result was that only 68 brands managed a score high enough to qualify their watches as "fine watchmaking".

Yesterday, April 26, 2017, the Foundation de la Haute Horlogerie (FHH) released a white paper on “Fine Watchmaking”. In short, the white paper was created to promote what they’re calling “Fine Watchmaking”, and they defined 4 market segments and 7 areas of expertise by which 46 “independent international experts” used to judge brands against. These people make up what they’re calling the “Cultural Council”. For a watch to be qualified it must score at least 60% where 65% of the score is objective and 35% is subjective.

In total, 86 brands were judged, 68 made the cut, and only 28 were so good they became partners.