Chronographs - anyone use them?
Discussion
On a regular basis, I mean.
Having wanted a chronograph for ages (mainly because I like the look) I've finally got round to getting one. Now I have it, I can't see that I'll ever use any of the additional functions. I know functions on sub-dials vary, but mine has a stopwatch minute counter, the regular second hand and a 24 hour hand on sub-dials. The 24 hour hand can't be set to a second time zone so that in particular seems pretty pointless really.
Does anyone have a better set up, which encourages more regular use?
Having wanted a chronograph for ages (mainly because I like the look) I've finally got round to getting one. Now I have it, I can't see that I'll ever use any of the additional functions. I know functions on sub-dials vary, but mine has a stopwatch minute counter, the regular second hand and a 24 hour hand on sub-dials. The 24 hour hand can't be set to a second time zone so that in particular seems pretty pointless really.
Does anyone have a better set up, which encourages more regular use?
The PH answer is of course that I use it daily whilst leaping from planes, diving, setting a new fastest lap around Monaco etc etc.
The truth is that I do use it every other day to time a boiled egg, my pasta, my sons' mock exams and so on. Not very sexy but has a use. I could use my phone, but the watch is on my wrist and handy so I use that.
Mine does seconds, minutes and hours, but rarely do I need more than a few mins or an hour at most.
The truth is that I do use it every other day to time a boiled egg, my pasta, my sons' mock exams and so on. Not very sexy but has a use. I could use my phone, but the watch is on my wrist and handy so I use that.
Mine does seconds, minutes and hours, but rarely do I need more than a few mins or an hour at most.
jimmyslr said:
The PH answer is of course that I use it daily whilst leaping from planes, diving, setting a new fastest lap around Monaco etc etc.
The truth is that I do use it every other day to time a boiled egg, my pasta, my sons' mock exams and so on. Not very sexy but has a use. I could use my phone, but the watch is on my wrist and handy so I use that.
Mine does seconds, minutes and hours, but rarely do I need more than a few mins or an hour at most.
^ ^ ^ This. The truth is that I do use it every other day to time a boiled egg, my pasta, my sons' mock exams and so on. Not very sexy but has a use. I could use my phone, but the watch is on my wrist and handy so I use that.
Mine does seconds, minutes and hours, but rarely do I need more than a few mins or an hour at most.
Although I do use it to time a long-haul journey by 'plane, just to see how long I was in the air.
The PH answer is of course that I use it daily whilst leaping from planes, diving, setting a new fastest lap around Monaco etc etc.
The truth is that I do use it every other day to time a boiled egg, my pasta, my sons' mock exams and so on. Not very sexy but has a use. I could use my phone, but the watch is on my wrist and handy so I use that.
Mine does seconds, minutes and hours, but rarely do I need more than a few mins or an hour at most.
The truth is that I do use it every other day to time a boiled egg, my pasta, my sons' mock exams and so on. Not very sexy but has a use. I could use my phone, but the watch is on my wrist and handy so I use that.
Mine does seconds, minutes and hours, but rarely do I need more than a few mins or an hour at most.
jimmyslr said:
The PH answer is of course that I use it daily whilst leaping from planes, diving, setting a new fastest lap around Monaco etc etc.
The truth is that I do use it every other day to time a boiled egg, my pasta, my sons' mock exams and so on. Not very sexy but has a use. I could use my phone, but the watch is on my wrist and handy so I use that.
Mine does seconds, minutes and hours, but rarely do I need more than a few mins or an hour at most.
We know. You've already told us The truth is that I do use it every other day to time a boiled egg, my pasta, my sons' mock exams and so on. Not very sexy but has a use. I could use my phone, but the watch is on my wrist and handy so I use that.
Mine does seconds, minutes and hours, but rarely do I need more than a few mins or an hour at most.
Not really bonding with mine at all. To use the stopwatch I need to unscrew the locks on both pushers. If I need to time something it's easier just to rotate the bezel - which I can already do on my other watches. The need to time anything to a fifth of a second hasn't cropped up yet (I'm clearly not living the PH lifestyle) - so I might end up moving this one on.
Still love the way they look, (well some anyway). Think 'sporty' sums it up nicely. C'mon nobody really uses them, its like trying to figure out a Navitimer BUT it still looks nice (in my opinion).
The Sinn 103 in blue is still my fave. A grail watch though as you cant get em anymore. Unless you know different of course?!
Some do look hideous though...
The Sinn 103 in blue is still my fave. A grail watch though as you cant get em anymore. Unless you know different of course?!
Some do look hideous though...
I have a few watches which I bought more as jewellery than for any practical reasons. I have a dive watch and it doesn't even see the bath. I don't think I've ever used my chronograph function other than to test it works and I also have a world time watch which I got for when I'm travelling with work. Most of my trips are in Europe so if I need to know what time it is back home, it tends to be an hours difference and not an really an issue! Whilst I appreciate the engineering and watchmaking skill, my iPhone tends to deliver all the functions I'll ever need.
Zod said:
Er, but that's not a chronograph, is it?
Yes, although not clear in that photo - the pushers are on the left and there are two central hands at 12 o'clock - chrono minute and second. .jpg)
...So this is 44'11" elapsed, or more simply about 3/4 hour. White tipped 'Arrowed' hand is minutes, white tipped straight hand is seconds.
Answers the cluttered dial problem mentioned above - the subdued red script and date also take away any other distraction.
Traditional chronographs use a 30' scale small subdial - here you effectively use the whole watch face as the subdial and it's on the normal 60' scale, it's also one of the only mechanical chronographs you can use in the dark - the chrono hand tips are luminous - so intuitive, 'at a glance', readability day or night.
Very often.
For the usual daily stuff like cooking, parking meters, journey times, work-outs, baby’s feeds/sleeps etc., but a dive watch’s elapsed time bezel can also do most of that to the accuracy I require, if less than 60 minutes duration.
My Omega Speedmaster can occasionally be used in a couple of slightly less-usual ways though:
- As a date indicator (the Moonwatch doesn’t have a date display) – just stop the Chrono Second hand on the desired marker corresponding to the date. To be honest, I rarely need to do that though.
- In conjunction with the Tachymeter scale, it can of course be used to measure speed & distance, but also to quickly predict production rate per hour. It could be used to estimate factory production schedules, for example, but I most recently used it to let me predict how long I’d have to wait for my music library to completely sync over to my new iPhone e.g. pick a single song (with an average MB size), start the chronograph when the download commences, and stop it once completed – if just over 10 seconds have passed and the chrono hand has stopped at 350 on the tachymeter scale, then that’s the average rate of downloads per hour.
For the usual daily stuff like cooking, parking meters, journey times, work-outs, baby’s feeds/sleeps etc., but a dive watch’s elapsed time bezel can also do most of that to the accuracy I require, if less than 60 minutes duration.
My Omega Speedmaster can occasionally be used in a couple of slightly less-usual ways though:
- As a date indicator (the Moonwatch doesn’t have a date display) – just stop the Chrono Second hand on the desired marker corresponding to the date. To be honest, I rarely need to do that though.
- In conjunction with the Tachymeter scale, it can of course be used to measure speed & distance, but also to quickly predict production rate per hour. It could be used to estimate factory production schedules, for example, but I most recently used it to let me predict how long I’d have to wait for my music library to completely sync over to my new iPhone e.g. pick a single song (with an average MB size), start the chronograph when the download commences, and stop it once completed – if just over 10 seconds have passed and the chrono hand has stopped at 350 on the tachymeter scale, then that’s the average rate of downloads per hour.
andy_s said:
Zod said:
Er, but that's not a chronograph, is it?
Yes, although not clear in that photo - the pushers are on the left and there are two central hands at 12 o'clock - chrono minute and second. ...So this is 44'11" elapsed, or more simply about 3/4 hour. White tipped 'Arrowed' hand is minutes, white tipped straight hand is seconds.
Answers the cluttered dial problem mentioned above - the subdued red script and date also take away any other distraction.
Traditional chronographs use a 30' scale small subdial - here you effectively use the whole watch face as the subdial and it's on the normal 60' scale, it's also one of the only mechanical chronographs you can use in the dark - the chrono hand tips are luminous - so intuitive, 'at a glance', readability day or night.
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