Electric switch having an electromagnetic actuator

An electric switch comprising:

• at least one movable switch contact, movable by a movable armature of an electromagnetic actuator to switch the switch on and off;
• a spring device, disposed between the at least one movable switch contact and the movable armature, wherein a magnetic flux is generatable in an excitation winding of an actuator by way of an excitation current being fed into the excitation winding, to move the movable armature from a starting position in which the at least one movable switch contact and another switch contacts are open, into an armature end position, in which switch contacts, including the at least one movable switch contact and the another contact, are closed and spring energy is stored in the spring device;
• and
• a control device to determines an armature position, referred to as a contact strike armature position, at which the switch contacts meet each other during the closing operation, before the armature reaches the armature end position,
• determines the magnetic flux through the excitation winding or determines a flux variable correlating to the magnetic flux through the excitation winding, and form a flux value,
• determines the magnetomotive force in the excitation winding with consideration for at least the excitation current flowing through the excitation winding and a number of turns of the excitation winding, and form a magnetomotive value, and
• determines the contact strike armature position with consideration for a position data set stored in a memory of the control device, the data set indicating a particular armature position as a function of magnetomotive values and flux values.