Certificates & Reports Terms

A certificate records that Atlas & Crown examined a specific watch and reached a Genuine conclusion on the evidence available on the date stated. It is issued only where an examiner has recorded that conclusion.

A certificate attests to our conclusion. It does not attest to value, to ownership, to title, to the absence of a theft claim, or to the watch’s condition after the date of examination.

A report is the fuller record behind a conclusion: the watch identified, the inspection results, component-level findings, supporting imagery, the recorded decision, the date, and the report identifier.

A report is written to be read whole. Component findings, the overall conclusion, and any stated limitation qualify one another, and reading one in isolation can misrepresent all three.

Every certificate carries a status. The status — not the physical or digital document — is what determines whether a certificate may currently be relied on.

Active

The current certificate for the watch. It may be relied on, subject to these terms.

Superseded

A later certificate has replaced this one, typically after re-examination or re-certification. The record remains verifiable for history, but the newer certificate is the current one.

Revoked

The certificate has been withdrawn and must not be relied on. Revocation may follow new evidence, a discovered misrepresentation, or a compromised issuance.

A certificate number that has never been issued verifies as not found. A record whose conclusion was not Genuine does not carry a certificate at all, and the Registry will not present it as verified.

Each certificate carries a certificate number and a QR code that resolve to the corresponding Registry entry. Verification is the authoritative check.

Verification confirms the existence, status, and content of the record we hold. It cannot confirm that the person presenting the certificate is entitled to the watch, or that the watch presented is the watch described.

You may present a certificate or report, complete and unaltered, in connection with the watch it describes — to a buyer, an insurer, an auction house, or a service provider — and you may share the Registry verification link freely.

You must not:

• Alter a certificate or report, including its identifiers, dates, findings, imagery, or conclusion.
• Present part of a report in a way that misrepresents the conclusion — for example, omitting a component finding, a stated limitation, or a superseding record.
• Present a certificate as relating to a watch other than the one it describes.
• Present a Superseded or Revoked certificate as current.
• Describe an Inconclusive or Counterfeit outcome as an authentication, or imply a certificate exists where none was issued.
• Create, reproduce, or circulate anything designed to resemble an Atlas & Crown certificate, report, certificate number, or Registry record.
• Represent a certificate as an appraisal, a valuation, a proof of ownership, or a manufacturer endorsement.

We may correct a certificate or report that contains an error, issue a superseding certificate after re-examination, or revoke a certificate where new credible evidence, a discovered misrepresentation, or an integrity concern justifies it.

These actions are recorded rather than silent: the prior record is retained, the change is written to our audit trail, and the Registry reflects the current status so that anyone verifying the number sees the true position.

Where we revoke a certificate, we will take reasonable steps to notify the account holder associated with the record.

Certificates and reports are our work product and remain our intellectual property. Holding one gives you the right to use and present it as set out above; it does not transfer ownership of the document, our methodology, or our research. See the Intellectual Property Notice.

A certificate attaches to a watch, not to a person. Selling a watch does not revoke its certificate, and holding a certificate does not make you the owner of the watch it describes.

Where ownership is transferred through the Platform, the Registry reflects the current ownership status separately from the certificate’s own status. See the Provenance & Ownership Terms.