Who actually regularly uses chronograph dials?
Discussion
I love that regatta function that shows a flag at TEN MINS to start then FIVE MINS, then START, but useless for anything else other than yacht racing in real life.
I have four sub-dials - Date, GMT, running seconds, stopwatch minutes, with stopwatch seconds on the large central hand.
Completely unreadable.
I sometimes use a magnifying glass to check if the date and GMT are set correctly
But I do use the stopwatch function each time I cycle to work. Just about readable.
I prefer the aesthetics of the chrono sub dials. Looks more technical than ornamental.
I have four sub-dials - Date, GMT, running seconds, stopwatch minutes, with stopwatch seconds on the large central hand.
Completely unreadable.
I sometimes use a magnifying glass to check if the date and GMT are set correctly
But I do use the stopwatch function each time I cycle to work. Just about readable.
I prefer the aesthetics of the chrono sub dials. Looks more technical than ornamental.
wag2 said:
I used to use mine (Breitling) for timing starts yacht racing. Sub dials too small to read at a glance. I now use a £60 digital race timer.
I looked recently at a Daytona with mother of pearl face. Sub dials extremely hard to read
I have a MOP dial on my Chronomat, if I need a stopwatch I use my phone I looked recently at a Daytona with mother of pearl face. Sub dials extremely hard to read
I have a Tag Kirium chrono (quartz) that was my only watch for about 12 years. I only used the chrono function when I was running or swimming, but that was fairly regularly.
When I started to build up a collection of more interesting watches, the Tag got relegated to only being used as my running / swimming watch, and as I wanted each new watch to fill a slightly different role, I didn't look at bringing any other chronos in.
A particular irritation for me is that almost every mechanical chrono has a minute counter that resets at 30 minutes (where the Tag has a central seconds counter and a central minute counter as well as sub dials from 0-12 hours and 1/10 seconds). I know it's not a big deal to figure out on a mechanical chrono what the total elapsed time is if it goes over 30 minutes, but it seems a fairly fundamental design flaw.
So when the chrono function on my Tag stopped working a couple of months ago, I toyed with getting the new Damasko chrono that has central seconds and minute counters (therefore 0-60 minutes), but in an unusual rush of common sense, spent £15 on a Casio instead.
When I started to build up a collection of more interesting watches, the Tag got relegated to only being used as my running / swimming watch, and as I wanted each new watch to fill a slightly different role, I didn't look at bringing any other chronos in.
A particular irritation for me is that almost every mechanical chrono has a minute counter that resets at 30 minutes (where the Tag has a central seconds counter and a central minute counter as well as sub dials from 0-12 hours and 1/10 seconds). I know it's not a big deal to figure out on a mechanical chrono what the total elapsed time is if it goes over 30 minutes, but it seems a fairly fundamental design flaw.
So when the chrono function on my Tag stopped working a couple of months ago, I toyed with getting the new Damasko chrono that has central seconds and minute counters (therefore 0-60 minutes), but in an unusual rush of common sense, spent £15 on a Casio instead.
I use the one on my Portugieser on a regular(ish) basis for all kind of bits and pieces, from timing cooking through to how long it takes to walk somewhere.
I agree that chronographs can make a face look cluttered, but I think the Portugieser shows how to keep it fairly clean in as much as it only adds one subdial (elapsed minutes at 12 o-clock). In addition because the split seconds hand is central, when you're not using the chrono its resting position overlaps the elapsed minutes hand so at a glance you have one additional subdial and one additional hand. The pictures tend to make it look more fussy as the hands are always offset.
I agree that chronographs can make a face look cluttered, but I think the Portugieser shows how to keep it fairly clean in as much as it only adds one subdial (elapsed minutes at 12 o-clock). In addition because the split seconds hand is central, when you're not using the chrono its resting position overlaps the elapsed minutes hand so at a glance you have one additional subdial and one additional hand. The pictures tend to make it look more fussy as the hands are always offset.
Edited by Snubs on Friday 30th August 11:55
toon10 said:
I'm wearing my speedy pro today but to be honest, if I needed to time something I'd get my iPhone out before using it. I love the look of a good chronograph but I rarely use any features of a watch when my phone does it all. It's more jewellery to me than anything else.
+1I use mine most days for running, the centre-minute type makes so much more sense for practical use. Not only is it easier to read increments but the 'at a glance' 60min scale is as intuitive as the main dial.
I've used the EZM1 for a decade, about as uncluttered as you can get for a chronograph:
Some others I've got that use the Lemania 5100 [or variant] also have some deleted subdials -
The SAAF Lemania has just a running seconds:
The Tutima ZUZ/Commando II has just the hour totaliser:
A progression of clutter:
I've used the EZM1 for a decade, about as uncluttered as you can get for a chronograph:
Some others I've got that use the Lemania 5100 [or variant] also have some deleted subdials -
The SAAF Lemania has just a running seconds:
The Tutima ZUZ/Commando II has just the hour totaliser:
A progression of clutter:
Edited by andy_s on Friday 30th August 14:43
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