How to use the chronograph Tag Day Date Calibre 16

[HyperEscape]

Hello All,

I have just received my most talked about TAG Carerra Calibre 16 Day-Date Chronograph.

Have been enjoying its beauty and craftsmanship.

However to actually flaunt the inners, I need to know how to really use the chronograph functions. What are probable situations for its use, what are the markings and how is the external bezel tachymeter used in measuring velocity and distance. Does it has some use in combination with the chronograph.

My understanding is that I know that chronograph can be activated/reset by the push buttons on 2" and 4" o clock, but they only activate the large seconds hand (with red tip). With each complete round of the second's hand the 12 o clock sub dial (which is 30 minutes chrono marker) advances by one minute and the 6 o clock subdial should advance by one each hour.

How can I reset or align the small chrono sub-dials at 12 and 6 o clock. Right now they are running out of sync with the main timing clock. Do they keep running even when the chrono functions is not activated by the push button at 2 o clock.

I hope I am able to make myself clear, I need an article, guidance or a bible of chronograph functions and how they are supposed to be used in this watch.

Would be an excellent resource for the general understanding of all of us.

Thanks for your response.

 

[chisin]

Hey there. I'm a little confused by your description and question, but here's how the chrono (of an automatic movement on this watch) SHOULD work (unless you have a quartz movement, in which case, I don't know):

1.) As you know, the chronograph function is essentially a stopwatch
2.) When you push the pusher at 2 o'clock, it starts the chronograph running - the main hand second hand will move. And your take on how the subdials at 12 and 6 work is correct.
3.) To STOP the chrono hand, press the pusher at 2 o'clock again - so, together with the subdials, you can tell how many hours, minutes and seconds have elapsed.
4.) To reset everything back to Zero, press the pusher at 4 o'clock.

On some of your questions:

1.) What use for a chronograph? Well, when you need to time something - say the time it takes for an F1 car to complete a lap.

2.) The tachymeter scale on the bezel is used in conjunction with the chrono second hand (and is only really applicable for something timed which is less than 60 seconds). What it does is give you the average speed, based on the amount of time it takes (as shown by the chrono hand) to cover 1 unit distance. Here's a good article: Tachymeter scale - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

3.) As for the subdials at 12 and 6 o'clock. I don't understand why you would want it aligned with the main clock? These subdials only work when the chronograph is running, and that only happens when you push the 2 o'clock pusher. They will not run if the chrono function isn't running. (Unless....your watch doesn't actually have a 7750 chrono movement, and they are instead faux chrono subdials....) Most of the time, ppl just keep the subdials and main chrono hand reset to zero (i.e, all of them point straight up), when not running.

IF you really wanted those subdial hands to be in sync with your main clock, I suppose you could wait till it is exactly 12 am or pm (and when the small second hand on the 9 o'clock subdial is also at zero), and start the chrono function then....but that's really gonna sap your power.

Hope the above helps.

 

[HyperEscape]

1.) As you know, the chronograph function is essentially a stopwatch
2.) When you push the pusher at 2 o'clock, it starts the chronograph running - the main hand second hand will move. And your take on how the subdials at 12 and 6 work is correct.
3.) To STOP the chrono hand, press the pusher at 2 o'clock again - so, together with the subdials, you can tell how many hours, minutes and seconds have elapsed.
4.) To reset everything back to Zero, press the pusher at 4 o'clock.

On some of your questions:

1.) What use for a chronograph? Well, when you need to time something - say the time it takes for an F1 car to complete a lap.

2.) The tachymeter scale on the bezel is used in conjunction with the chrono second hand (and is only really applicable for something timed which is less than 60 seconds). What it does is give you the average speed, based on the amount of time it takes (as shown by the chrono hand) to cover 1 unit distance. Here's a good article: Tachymeter scale - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

3.) As for the subdials at 12 and 6 o'clock. I don't understand why you would want it aligned with the main clock? These subdials only work when the chronograph is running, and that only happens when you push the 2 o'clock pusher. They will not run if the chrono function isn't running. (Unless....your watch doesn't actually have a 7750 chrono movement, and they are instead faux chrono subdials....) Most of the time, ppl just keep the subdials and main chrono hand reset to zero (i.e, all of them point straight up), when not running.

IF you really wanted those subdial hands to be in sync with your main clock, I suppose you could wait till it is exactly 12 am or pm (and when the small second hand on the 9 o'clock subdial is also at zero), and start the chrono function then....but that's really gonna sap your power.

Hope the above helps.

Thanks Chisin,

Clears up the air for me a bit. Just some more queries to make me more knowing about it ,

1. What i understand is that the big second hand (with red tip) is actually the stop watch hand, and does not need to run all the time unless I am timing something.? In my case, I was following the idea of using a conventional watch in which the big second hand is actually the seconds movement for telling time of the day (and not measuring time duration for an event) . In this watch the running seconds for time of the day are actually the small subdial at 9'o clock.

I have got this watch for more than a week now and due to my conventional way to look at the big seconds hand , i have kept it running for around 10 days.

2. Due to running the big second's hand all the time the subdials at 12 and 6 o clock were moving accordingly and I was confused as to why they are not static or not moving with the main clock (which of course will not serve any purpose).

3. I will try stopping the chrono with the button at 2 and then re-setting the chrono hand at 0 (or 12 or 60) with the pusher at 4, but what I can see is that the pusher at 4 only resets the main seconds chrono hand and not the small subdials at 12 and 6. Is there any other button combination to reset the small dials as well.

Thanks for your guidance.

 

[tflgee]

The big second hand should not move in normal operation. That is only for when the chrono is running. The regular second hand on the calibre 16 is the subdial at 9 oclock.

 

[chisin]

Thanks Chisin,

Clears up the air for me a bit. Just some more queries to make me more knowing about it ,

1. What i understand is that the big second hand (with red tip) is actually the stop watch hand, and does not need to run all the time unless I am timing something.? In my case, I was following the idea of using a conventional watch in which the big second hand is actually the seconds movement for telling time of the day (and not measuring time duration for an event) . In this watch the running seconds for time of the day are actually the small subdial at 9'o clock.

I have got this watch for more than a week now and due to my conventional way to look at the big seconds hand , i have kept it running for around 10 days.

2. Due to running the big second's hand all the time the subdials at 12 and 6 o clock were moving accordingly and I was confused as to why they are not static or not moving with the main clock (which of course will not serve any purpose).

3. I will try stopping the chrono with the button at 2 and then re-setting the chrono hand at 0 (or 12 or 60) with the pusher at 4, but what I can see is that the pusher at 4 only resets the main seconds chrono hand and not the small subdials at 12 and 6. Is there any other button combination to reset the small dials as well.

Thanks for your guidance.

Hey there. Your understanding in (1) and (2) above is correct. If you wanted to use the main chrono second hand as if it was a normal second hand - you can, but you'll just have to keep the chrono running (which saps power faster - not a concern if you are constantly wearing your watch), which will also result in the subdials and 12 and 6 o'clock moving (you can't stop this, if you want the chrono to run).

However, to have the chrono perpetually running - am not sure if this is good for your watch. Maybe an expert on the 7750 movement can chime in here.

On (3) - once the chrono is stopped by pressing the pusher at 2, you can re-set everything back to zero with the pusher at 4. Please do NOT press the pusher at 4 until you've stopped the chrono with the pusher at 2. When you hit the reset button, ALL the hands (main chrono hand, and the hands on the 12 and 6 subdials should all reset). If the hands on the subdials do not reset, but the main hand does..... your movement is busted, friend, I'm sorry to say. The pusher at 4 resets everything. There's no separate reset button for the subdials.

Try stopping your chrono, and resetting, and let us know the outcome first. I do hope your movement is still ok - but keeping your chrono running for a week may have resulted in complications (i.e. busting your movement).

 

[HyperEscape]

On (3) - once the chrono is stopped by pressing the pusher at 2, you can re-set everything back to zero with the pusher at 4. Please do NOT press the pusher at 4 until you've stopped the chrono with the pusher at 2. When you hit the reset button, ALL the hands (main chrono hand, and the hands on the 12 and 6 subdials should all reset). If the hands on the subdials do not reset, but the main hand does..... your movement is busted, friend, I'm sorry to say. The pusher at 4 resets everything. There's no separate reset button for the subdials.

Try stopping your chrono, and resetting, and let us know the outcome first. I do hope your movement is still ok - but keeping your chrono running for a week may have resulted in complications (i.e. busting your movement).

I have already tried resetting the chrono (using the button at 4), ONLY after I stop the chrono by pressing the button at 2.

What i saw is that resetting the chrono using pusher at 4, initialized the main second hand and the small subdial for chrono minutes at 12, but the small subdial for chrono hours at 6 did not zeroed in correctly. It was left behind by a couple of hour markers. I rectified it by pressing the 4 pusher a couple of times for which the needle jumped a few markers every time and ultimately reached to zero (or 12) . I guess this was more of a problem of some clogged movement or gears in 7750.

I have stopped the main chrono seconds hand now, so as not to put it in an overkill of damaging the movement or to die at a virgin age .

Thanks for your support.

 

[chisin]

Maybe you could try starting, stopping and resetting the chrono again to see what happens? But, it sounds like your movement needs to be looked at....

Just to confirm - you got the automatic 7750 movement (see-through caseback) instead of the Japanese quartz version (solid, non see-through caseback) right?

 

[R2D4]

omg... Ok. First wind the watch up make sure it is wound. Wind it slowly about 20 times. Start the chronograph and let it run for 5 minutes. Try and stop the chronograph when the main seconds needle is closest to 12. Then firmly press the reset button at 4. The chrono needles should reset to due north, up, 12, 30, 12. The sub dial at 9 is your running seconds, that will never reset. Always set your day/date when the hour and minute hands, (the main ones) are at 6:30. If you use your chronograph start and stop when needed but to reset, run the center seconds as close to 12 as you can get it. You don't want the center seconds to run to far or it will slap past the 12 mark and stay off mark.

You have to be careful with these movements.

The markings on the bezel correlate with timing and speed, like at a race track. Carrera/Car Daytona/Racetrack.

Hope that helps.

 

[HyperEscape]

Will try that out and post.