I just meant it's 'capable' in context of the above question of engineering capabilities. But you're very right that aviation requires expensive safety and compliance procedures on top of that.
Yea, they are both capable of doing the same job, but one comes with a $104.01 piece of paper that proves that a clerk in an office stamped another piece of paper and filed it away in a cabinet, which makes it legal to use with a certified airplane.
You can take just about any measuring tool to a calibration company and get the certificate. Indeed, you MUST do this on a regular basis: calibration is a set of measurements of a system over time. Single-point-in-time calibration is worthless for showing drift. You can also get things tested at a range of temperature and humidity levels, high-grade lab standards may get calibrated at multiple temperature & humidity levels every 6 months.