Kinds of chronographs
Standard chronograph: This watch has two or three sub dials (also known as totalizers), and the standard two pusher layout (the top pusher starts and stops the timing, while the bottom pusher returns the timing hand to zero).
Monopusher: this chronograph only has one pusher, which is sometimes integrated into the crown and in other cases is by itself. This pusher starts, stops and resets the timing mechanism.
Flyback: A flyback chronograph allows the user to restart the timing hand at anytime during the timing process. One of the most useful chronograph complications, but not one of the easiest to make.
Split second: A split second chronograph has two timing hands, allowing the user to ‘split’ these hands, effectively timing two things at once.
Complications: One popular thing for watch brands to do is to include the chronograph in complicated watches. For example, there are tourbillon chronographs, perpetual calendar chronographs and also grand complications with chronographs.
Quartz:Quartz chronographs are very popular indeed. Extremely precise, quartz chronographs often use the sub dial layout that has been popularized by mechanical watches, but they also use digital displays, which helps showcase the quartz chronograph’s phenomenal accuracy.
Why is the chronograph so popular?
Using a chronograph is easy and fun, and very functional. "It’s really an added function that is not just an additional display”, says Jean-Paul Girardin, Vice President, Breitling, “It’s something you can use to measure the time, not just to read the time. Due to this, you have an interaction with the watch. Interactivity makes things completely different, since you are doing something, not just reading something. You interact with your chronograph. By doing this, you cannot control the time, but you are heading in that direction.” Girardin continues.
Chronographs are very popular because they offer a very accessible complication and one whose standard layout is very attractive. “Aesthetically, the chronograph is a well liked complication as it has a technical sportive style via the chronograph pushers on the case, the dial and the movement type,” details Philip Barat, head of the watch development department at Patek Philippe. “The chronograph mechanism is visible via the sapphire case back and it has a very technical look.”
Also, the cost of entry into the mechanical chronograph world is not as steep as other complications, like perpetual calendars, tourbillons or minute repeaters. "The chronograph is the first complication people can afford,“ states Jean-Frederic Dufour, President, Zenith. "The chronograph brings you emotion – it means something to you. The functionality is very nice, it speaks to a large amount of people. It’s an easy complication to understand.“
Also, chronographs are linked to compe-tition, sports and moving, mechanical parts. “Chronographs became boy’s toys, because their look is sporty and the origin is from competition,” says Thomas Morf, President, Morf Consulting. "As we all know by now, men like to compete and therefore the chronograph underlines a certain masculinity.”
People like to pass time in an attempt to control it. Since the very beginning of timekeeping, we have been qualifying events and performances, like Usain Bolt’s gold medal-winning sprint and how long it takes your kids to run around your house!
“It is reasonable to think that, for a very long time, man has needed to measure time: to set markers and define durations,” explains Jean-Christophe Babin, President of TAG Heuer. “Progress has given us a more definite idea of time. People now require much greater precision so they can measure fractions of time. As the purpose of a watch is to tell the time, the chronograph is, naturally, the most popular option, because it divides the time as precisely as possible. The chronograph has also become much more important with the development of sport."
