Some of us may find it hard to swallow in the modernised, globalised world we live in today, but many people still believe that some products have a special value that is conferred by the place where they're made. Try telling your average BMW-driving executive that he'd be better off with a car made in Czechoslovakia rather than Germany and he'll laugh in your face. Ask the average Frenchman or woman to buy Brie made in Somerset and he or she will be appalled. Tell a French wine producer that Australian sparkling wine made from a blend of pinot noir and chardonnay is just as good as the stuff that has 'Champagne' printed on the label and he or she will probably faint dead away, and on recovering may well file a lawsuit against you.

The Swiss are similarly protective about their timepieces. You can't get away with calling just any old collection of cog wheels, winders and dials you throw together a Swiss Made watch - even if it is actually assembled in Switzerland.

The Swiss watch and clock industry is governed by a strict set of protocols that sort out which products can carry the Swiss Made label and which ones most definitely cannot.

For a start, nothing that has been put together anywhere else qualifies. Even if you buy the finest collection of watch parts from the most expert Swiss manufacturer, you are not allowed to put them together in a factory in, say, Brixton and then claim to have produced a Swiss watch. Even if all you do is attach the hands to the face of the watch, if you're not in Switzerland when you do it you can't call it a Swiss Made watch.

On the other hand, there is nothing to stop a Swiss manufacturer putting together a set of components purchased from Japan or South Korea in a Swiss workshop and then selling the result as a Swiss Made watch - the only proviso being that at least 50 per cent of the components must have been manufactured in Switzerland. It is also a requirement that that the final testing of the movement must be carried out in Switzerland.

In addition to the Swiss Made label, timepieces that meet certain conditions may be permitted the label Swiss Movement. The requirements for this are that the movement (that is, the mechanism of the watch or clock) must have been assembled and inspected in Switzerland and at least 50 per cent of the value of the movement must be accounted for by components manufactured in Switzerland.

If it meets these requirements, a watch or clock can have the inscription Swiss Movement inscribed on its face. But it has to be done properly: the word 'movement' must appear in full (abbreviations like 'movt' are unacceptable) and must be set in the same type-face, size and colour as the word Swiss.