History of Men’s Chronograph Watches
The history of men’s chronograph watches goes back to around the 17th century. But they were not very popular in the early days. The modern chronograph was invented by Rieussec of France in the year 1821. In 1822, Rieussec was granted a patent for his invention. Then on chronograph watches gained in fame. It culminated with the advent of the men’s chronograph in 1910, as a wrist watch. Soon it was a very sought after type of watch, only to gain in popularity through the years. When the Swatch watch company started the production of affordable and fashionable chrono's in early 1990, they became some of the most sought after watches, as were all subsequent versions.
The word chronograph is defined as a timepiece capable of measuring extremely brief intervals of time accurately, as a stopwatch able to record fractions of a second as well as elapsed time. Therefore chronograph watches had in addition to the time keeping the stopwatch functionality. Chronographs can be divided in to several categories. These are Analog chronograph which shows both time and stopwatch functions with analog hands., Digital chronograph which uses a digital display for both timekeeping and stopwatch functions, Analog-digital chronographs which have a standard analog watch with permanent center seconds and a separate digital display that usually operates independently of the analog section.
Men’s chronograph watches with additional complications were build by watchmakers. Two of those are the double chronograph and flyback chronograph.
Double Chronograph
A double chronograph is a watch that besides the chronograph hand has one additional split-seconds hand. The double chronograph is used to calculate two distinct events of different durations. The split-seconds hand can be situated whether above or below the chronograph hand. Both hands are activated simultaneously.
The first push releases both hands. While one continues registering the time, the other hand can be repeatedly stopped. In order to stop and bring both hands to zero a watch has a return pusher. The position of the pusher, controlling the split-seconds function is usually at either 10 or 8 o'clock.
The double chronograph was previously called Fly-back second. It was invented in 19th century by Adolphe Nicole. During the 1930's, due to a smaller size the mechanism was able to fit the case of a wristwatch. First timepiece with a double chronograph launched into the market was the one created by Patek Philippe in 1922.
Today Double chronographs can be divided into two subgroups. One comprises chronographs based on in-house movements of different watchmaking companies and the other group contains timepieces based on movements like the Valjoux 7750 from ETA. The first split-seconds mechanism based on the ETA-Valjoux 7750 was presented in 1992 Today this caliber is the main one used in watches with a split-seconds mechanism.
Flyback Chronograph
The flyback chronographs are considered to be among the most complicated watches. They are used mostly in those activities, where people need to instantly restart the chronograph, such as aviation, diving and so on.
The Flyback function enables the chronograph to perform three actions via one single press of the button. It stops, resets and restarts the chronograph in an instant.
A flyback chronograph usually has the usual crown at 3 o'clock and 2 push pieces at 2 and 4 o'clock. Usually the flyback function is controlled by the button at 4 o'clock whereas the one at 2 o'clock is used to stop the chronograph.
The appearance of the flyback function can be traced to first watch with a separate chronograph button (the stop and reset functions were previously controlled by the winding-crown). This watch appeared in 1923.
The men’s chronographs have afterwards gained the form which they retained until today. In 1934 the Breitling chronographs received the second chronograph button with the function of returning the seconds hand to zero. Thus it became possible to measure short intervals of time using the add function. However the patent of the flyback chronograph belongs to Longines with its first flyback chronograph dating back to 1936.
As a Professional Tool
Initially the chronograph was a very useful additional feature used by some exclusive professions, including athletes and military etc. Professionally, they had to be able to measure the time of certain events accurately. For them, a chronograph was a practical choice.
For example with the popularization of athletics it became paramount to get the difference between athletes in sprint events as this could mean the difference between Gold and Silver. As these differences are measured in hundredths of a second quartz chronographs are used.
To racing enthusiasts, a stopwatch with tachometer is very useful. For example, to measure the speed of a formula 1 race car, the time to cover a distance of 1000 meters is measured, and the tachometer scale automatically indicates the speed in kilometers per hour.
Divers have their own time piece as well. Basic requirement is that the case is waterproof. That is why a diver's chronograph has round pushers, a screw on crown, and a screw back case which is provided with rubber gasket-rings to keep water out. At a depth of 30 meters there is hardly any daylight penetrating, so luminescent numerals and hands on a dark dial are necessary.
The most important feature of any diver's watch is the diving ring. This is a rotating bezel around the dial or the crystal. It is divided in minutes and often has a triangular fluorescent marking at 12. Before divers take to the water, they have calculated the time they can spend under water.
Fashion Statement.
More and more the chronograph is becoming a fashion statement. Today, wearing a chronograph is a matter of taste, rather than professional. Practical applications are still plentiful but the biggest appeal of the men's chronograph watches is probably the exciting and sportive image, for it is the watch for astronauts, racing car drivers and pilots. Obviously this is the reason why chronograph are mainly for men, although that may not be appropriate in the modern world, still the chronograph has a distinct flavor of daring and courage that everybody associates with a man
