I was looking through my watch collection trying to pick a watch for the day and it struck me that I had several chronograph watches and had no clear idea on how to use them. I mean, sure most of us know the chronograph watch is a watch that can act as a stop watch. I know what they do and I know if you push the buttons, cool things happen. But, how the heck do you actually use this wonderful piece of mechanical wizardry? I started to do some research and discovered not only how to really use these great looking watches but also found out there is a wide variety of chronograph watches out there. This tutorial is a result of my research. It is based on one of my watches with 3 Subdials; minutes, seconds, tenths of second. You watch may be different and your mileage may vary but the basic functionality should still apply. I have deliberately left out any references to specific watches because I wanted this to be a general how-to reference of Chronograph watches.
On one additional note I have noticed that some people (at least I was) are uncertain what the difference is between a chronograph and a chronometer? Turns out they have nothing to do with each other. A chronograph is a watch with hands that display hours, minutes and seconds, along with the ability to measure elapsed time. A chronometer is a watch that has obtained an official rate certificate from the COSC (Official Swiss Chronometer Testing Institute) after having passed precision tests in different positions and at different temperatures, as well as water-resistance tests.
So you are saying to yourself, “Well I already figured out that the upper pusher will start/stop the stop watch and the lower pusher button will reset the chronographâ€
On one additional note I have noticed that some people (at least I was) are uncertain what the difference is between a chronograph and a chronometer? Turns out they have nothing to do with each other. A chronograph is a watch with hands that display hours, minutes and seconds, along with the ability to measure elapsed time. A chronometer is a watch that has obtained an official rate certificate from the COSC (Official Swiss Chronometer Testing Institute) after having passed precision tests in different positions and at different temperatures, as well as water-resistance tests.
So you are saying to yourself, “Well I already figured out that the upper pusher will start/stop the stop watch and the lower pusher button will reset the chronographâ€