Swiss Timing

Swiss Timing Ltd is a Swiss sports-timekeeping company, part of the Swatch Group and based in Corgémont, Switzerland. It develops timing, scoring, and display systems for many sports, and its aquatics equipment is sold and displayed under the Omega brand at major international meets. It is one of a small number of principal aquatic-timing manufacturers, and the Omega line it produces is generally credited with the first electronic swim-timing system using in-lane touchpads.¹²³

Part of the Swiss Timing hardware documented in the equipment reference is aquatic timing gear built around the company’s Quantum console and OSB starting blocks.

History¶

Swiss Timing was founded in 1972 in Biel, Switzerland, when the sports-timing operations of two Swiss watch houses, Omega and Longines, were combined into a single company. Both brands had timed sporting events for decades before then: Omega had served as sole timekeeper of the 1932 Los Angeles Olympic Games, and Longines had a parallel history in Olympic and equestrian timekeeping.¹⁴

Swiss Timing became part of the Swatch Group through the 1983 merger, led by Nicolas G. Hayek, of the watchmaking holdings ASUAG and SSIH into the company later renamed the Swatch Group; the group retained Swiss Timing rather than dissolving it.²¹ In 1988 the Longines timing team and Omega sports timing were brought together under Swiss Timing. The company is based in Corgémont, with additional offices in Leipzig, Germany, and Liberec, Czech Republic, both from later acquisitions in those countries.¹

Swiss Timing operates as the Swatch Group’s timekeeping arm on behalf of the group’s watch brands. At the Olympic Games and other top-level events its equipment carries the Omega name, under Omega’s long-running role as official Olympic timekeeper, a role Omega first held in 1932 and that runs under contract into the 2030s; Longines carries the brand at other events.⁴¹

Products¶

Swiss Timing develops timing, scoring, and display systems across many sports, with a dedicated aquatics line built around its Quantum console.¹⁵

• Aquatic timing, the Quantum Aquatics timing system, a primary and secondary console arrangement that collects finish signals from in-lane touchpads, receives the start pulse, runs the race clock, and drives the scoreboard, supplied with swimming software and cabling.⁵
• Touchpads, the OMEGA OCP5 touchpad, which records a swimmer’s finish at the wall; its contact strips close under about 2 to 3 kg of localized pressure and the surface is built to resist false impulses from waves and wash and to withstand hard water and pool chemicals.⁶
• Starting blocks, the OSB series of swimming starting blocks (the OSB11 and OSB14 full blocks and the OSB12 platform), with an adjustable footrest, an anti-slip surface, and optional relay break detection (RBD) that judges relay exchanges from the block, plus the OBL2 Pro backstroke ledge that gives backstrokers a fixed foothold at the start.⁷⁶
• Start systems, the StartTime electronic starting device, across the earlier acoustic StartTime II and III and the later StartTime IV and current StartTime V generations, whose e-gun (from the StartTime IV on) produces the start light and tone and drives the per-lane start audio.⁸
• Lane speakers, an in-block loudspeaker fitted inside the OSB blocks for fixed installations and mobile loudspeaker sets for portable cabling, both driven by the start device.⁸
• Scoreboards and displays, aquatic and multisport scoreboards and LED displays that show the race clock and results.⁵
• Other sports, beyond aquatics Swiss Timing supplies timing, scoring, and results systems for a wide range of Olympic and international sports under the Omega and Longines brands.¹

Individual Swiss Timing aquatic products are catalogued in the equipment reference: the StartTime II, StartTime III, StartTime IV, and StartTime V electronic starting devices that start the race, the in-block and mobile lane speakers it drives under and around each block, and the OBL2 Pro backstroke ledge that mounts on the OSB blocks. The Quantum console, OCP5 touchpads, and OSB starting blocks are added as those pages are written.

In swim timing¶

The first electronic swim-timing system using in-lane touchpads is generally credited to Omega, in 1967, with contact pads designed to register a swimmer’s touch rather than incidental water movement. Swiss Timing, which produces that Omega line today, is one of a small number of major aquatic-timing manufacturers, alongside Colorado Time Systems, Daktronics, and Seiko.³ Its aquatics offering centers on the Quantum console, which reads the OCP5 touchpads and backup buttons, receives the start pulse from the StartTime device, runs the race clock, and drives the scoreboard.⁵⁸

In competition¶

Swiss Timing equipment, under the Omega brand, is used at the Olympic Games and the World Aquatics Championships and at other top-level international meets, where Omega serves as official timekeeper.⁴¹ The company’s aquatic systems are built to the requirements of the international federation (World Aquatics, formerly FINA) that govern timing and starting equipment at those competitions.⁵⁸

See also¶

• Vendors: other manufacturers referenced in Libre Aquatics Wiki
• Equipment: the equipment reference
• Colorado Time Systems, Daktronics and Seiko: peer aquatic-timing manufacturers
• StartTime V and Swiss Timing lane speakers: its documented aquatic products
• Sources & citations: how Libre Aquatics Wiki references vendors and manuals

References¶

Footnotes¶

1. Swiss Timing, History. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

2. Wikipedia, The Swatch Group. ↩ ↩²

3. Wikipedia, Aquatic timing system. ↩ ↩²

4. Wikipedia, Omega SA. ↩ ↩² ↩³

5. Swiss Timing, Quantum Aquatics timing system datasheet. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

6. Swiss Timing, OMEGA OCP5 Touchpad datasheet. ↩ ↩²

7. Swiss Timing, OSB11 Swimming Starting Block datasheet (V3, 03-2019). ↩

8. Swiss Timing, Swimming Concept installation manual (0017.509.02, Version 4.9, January 2017). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴