![watch chronograph watch chronograph](https://www.watchclub.com/upload/watches/originali/watch-club-iwc-pilots-watch-chronograph-43mm-pilots-chrono-full-set-ref-iw377714-year-2017-2.jpg)
Another subdial will track elapsed hours. When you activate the stopwatch’s sweeping second hand, one subdial will track elapsed minutes. What are three dials on a chronograph watch? Most, however, credit Tag Heuer, for their Caliber 11 which powered a 1969 Carrera. Some say it was Zenith’s El Primero in 1969, and others insist it was Seiko’s 6139 automatic chronograph, also in 1969. There’s a lot of debate as to who first produced the automatic chronograph. Since a chronograph is simply a watch with a stopwatch function, it can be both a chronograph watch and an automatic watch, if the time-telling component is self-winding. Speaking of automatics… What is the difference between an automatic watch and a chronograph?Īn automatic watch is one that is powered by an automatic movement, that is self-winding and is powered from the movement of your wrist. Chronograph watches are still esteemed because of the craft it takes to build one, especially an automatic one. These days, we have more digital forms of technology to measure elapsed time and make permanent records of it. The Speedmaster itself debuted in 1957, and was built for timing races on the tracks, then ended up going to the moon.Ĭhronographs, in general, are highly associated with racing. Later, in the 1930s, pre-Speedy Omega chronographs were used as stopwatches at the Olympic games. In 1821, another French watchmaker, Nicolas Mathieu Rieussec, built one for horseracing and gave it the name “chronograph.” In fact, the word “chronograph” basically just means stopwatch.īack in 1815, French watchmaker Louis Moinet invented the chronograph pocket watch for astronomers. It gives you the amount of time it takes to start and finish something. It’s the exact same thing as the stopwatch app on your phone! Other than telling time, a chronograph watch is used to measure elapsed time. The most basic kind only needs an independent second sweep hand and a minutes subdial. This second sweep hand doesn’t move until you’ve activated it to track elapsed time.Ĭhronographs can even be simpler than the three-subdial versions we all know about. It features a standard hour and minute hand, as well as an independent sweep second hand which is used for the stopwatch function. Simply put, a modern chronograph watch is a type of time-telling display watch, combined with a stopwatch. So let’s get right to the main question here: What is a chronograph watch?
![watch chronograph watch chronograph](https://www.audemarspiguetreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/15402OR.ZZ_.D003CR.01a.jpg)
![watch chronograph watch chronograph](http://www.thewatchblog.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Chronograph_watches_for_men_Timex_T499059J.jpg)
And they’re some of the most well-crafted timepieces out there. Other than being a popular (and very cool-looking) tool watch, it does more than just tell time. From the Zenith El Primero to the Speedmaster, even the newest of watch collectors know a chronograph when they see one.