Jonathan Nelson, June 15th 2016

The start of OMEGA with the Olympic Games

Story:

In 1930 S.A.L.B.F. wins first place at the Kew-Teddington competition with

one of their chronometers at the National Physical Laboratory in

Teddington, New England..

In 1930 S.A.L.B.F. as well places 1s t in all the 6 categories at the Geneva

Observatory.

In 1931 at the Geneva Observatory, S.A.L.B.F. breaks the chronometer

world record in all the categories.

These accomplishments is what led the International Olympic Committee

(IOC) to choose S.A.L.B.F. (later known as OMEGA) to be the official

timekeepers of the Olympic Games.

o "The choice of OMEGA to supply the most accurate, consistently

precise and reliable timekeeping equipment was first made by the

International Olympic Committee."

A section from The Wrist Watch Review, online journal, by the

author John Biggs on January 13th 2006 (His sources are

unknown)

We believe the IOC contacted Wood and Sons Inc., the only branch of

S.A.L.B.F. in the United States at the time as the "Thank You Letter" was

sent to them. (When and how they contacted them is still unknown).

o We are trying to retrieve documents which explains how this process

occurred (letters, documents, contracts)

We have contacted the National Physical Laboratory Archivist

in Teddington, England to try and recover the KEW Certificates

awarded to the chronometers.

In 2007 all previous KEW Certificates were transferred to

the National Maritime Museum in London.

Jonathan Nelson, June 15th 2016

S.A.L.B.F. loans 30 calibre 3889A chronometers to the IOC.

o These chronometers were required by the International Association

of Athletics Federations had to be tested and had to receive a "Class-

A Kew Certificate" in order to be used during the Olympic Games.

This testing was done at the National Physical Laboratory in

Teddington, England

We are still unsure about the movement of these chronometers when they

were sent to be tested. Here are the possibilities:

o 1: S.A.L.B.F. (Bienne) Woods and Sons (New York) IOC NPL

o 2: S.A.L.B.F. (Bienne) IOC NPL

o 3: S.A.L.B.F. (Bienne) NPL

After the Olympics Games on August 18th, 1932 the IOC sent an official

letter to the Woods and Sons Inc. thanking them for loaning the 30 "highly

satisfactory" chronometers.

Further Research:

National Maritime Museum in London KEW Certificates from the 30

chronometers

International Olympic Committee letters, documents, contracts on the

initial contact between S.A.L.B.F. and the IOC