Chronograph watches are used both as a stopwatch and a display watch. The term Chronograph comes from 2 Greek words for time “Chronos” and writing “graph.”
The early version of chronograph watches was operated by checking the dial with a small pen attached to the index so that the time of the pen mark would indicate how much time has elapse.
Chronograph watch History:
In 1816, Louis Moinet invented the first modern Chronograph solely for working with astronomical equipment. Nicolas Mathieu Rieussec developed the first marketed Chronograph commissioned by King Louis XVIII in 1821.
In 1844 Adolphe Nicole created an updated version of the chronograph watch by including a reset feature which allowed successive measurements unlike the always moving needle of the original one.
At the dawn of the 20th century, chronograph watches were sold with a fixed bezel in order to function as a Tachymeter (a scale around the rim of a watch used to compute a speed based on travel time or measure distance based on speed).
In 1958 the first rotating bezel tachymeter was introduced by the Company Heuer for more complex calculations.
The automatic (self-winding) Chronograph was invented in 1969 as a partnership between the watch companies Heuer, Breitling, Hamilton, and movement specialist Dubois Depraz.
The first automatic Chronograph was unveiled in New York and Geneva on March 3, 1969.
Some common types of Chronograph Watches include:
- Automatic Chronograph Watches: uses kinetic energy as it’s the power source
- Digital Chronograph Watches: uses a battery for power and quartz for timing
- Metered Bezels Chronograph Watches: Bezels can be either fixed or rotating, marked to specific scales to allow rapid calculations. Tachymeter: for rapid calculations of speed. Telemeter: for measuring the distance
- Flyback Chronograph Watches: have a timing hand that can be rapidly reset or fly back to zero
- Rattrapante Chronograph Watches: aka “double chronograph” has multiple second hands and one of which can be stopped and started independently
Other types of chronograph watches include tide chronograph watches, split-second chronograph watches, and tachometer chronograph watches.
Chronograph watch Functions:
Although chronograph watches can be very complicated devices, they all have a basic function of telling time and displaying elapsed time. They have important functions and play useful roles in our everyday life.
Example, the Langley Chronograph watch is used by the US Navy to record, calculate, and analyze data given off by airplane launching catapults and all astronauts utilized the Omega Speed master during all of NASA’s Apollo missions to the moon.
In addition, chronograph watches are used to record heartbeats within hospitals, as stopwatches, to calculate speed and/or distance on an athletic field, as second-time zone, as an appointment reminder, as a cooking tool for the kitchen to mention a few.
A Chronograph watch can be started by pushing a button at the 2-o’clock position to begin recording time and pushing the same button to stop recording. When the button is pushed, three train wheels start rolling. The smallest has a revolution time of one second, the next 60 seconds and the final one 60 minutes revolution time. For read more about, special offers, and other luxury watches visit website – The Watch Company
