A circuit breaker monitoring system and method includes a vibration sensor, a processing unit, and an output unit. The vibration sensor is configured to be mounted to a circuit breaker and to acquire a temporal vibration signal over at least a temporal portion of a closing operation of the circuit breaker. The closing operation comprises: initiation of the closing operation; latch release; movement of a moveable contact towards a fixed contact; contact touch of the moveable contact with the fixed contact; stop of movement of the moveable contact. The sensor provides the temporal vibration signal to the processing unit, which determines a plurality of physical switch events and corresponding plurality of time points of the plurality of physical switch events over the closing operation of the circuit breaker.