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The Encyclopedia of Horology

Watch family · Complication

Chronograph Watches

Verified

Watches combining ordinary timekeeping with a separate, stoppable and resettable stopwatch function, operated by pushers and typically indicated by a sweep seconds hand and subdial counters.

Movement & mechanism

  • Column-wheel or cam-lever mechanism controlling start, stop and reset functions
  • Pusher-actuated coupling clutch engaging the chronograph seconds wheel with the going train
  • Register/subdial counters for elapsed minutes and, in some calibres, hours

Identification

  • Two pushers flanking the crown (start/stop and reset)
  • Subdial(s) for elapsed minutes/hours in addition to the running seconds
  • Tachymeter or telemeter scale sometimes printed on the dial or bezel

Terminology

  • Column wheel — a stepped wheel sequencing the chronograph's start/stop/reset functions
  • Cam-lever (shuttle) — a simpler alternative chronograph control mechanism
  • Flyback — a chronograph that can be reset and restarted instantly with one pusher action

Known variations

  • Monopusher chronograph
  • Two-pusher chronograph
  • Flyback chronograph
  • Split-seconds (rattrapante) chronograph

Pocket-watch ancestry

The chronograph complication was developed and refined in pocket watches from the early-to-mid nineteenth century before being scaled down for the wrist; early wrist chronographs were frequently converted or newly cased pocket-chronograph movements.

Collecting notes

One of the most actively collected complications; column-wheel movements and early vintage chronograph references are especially sought after.

Photographs

Detailed view on chronograph pushers and crown of wristwatch Rolex Daytona (cropped)
Detailed view on chronograph pushers and crown of wristwatch Rolex Daytona (cropped) — Alesili, CC BY-SA 3.0. Wikimedia Commons file page
Crown and chronograph pushers of a Montblanc Timewalker wristwatch V2
Crown and chronograph pushers of a Montblanc Timewalker wristwatch V2 — Pittigrilli, CC BY 4.0. Wikimedia Commons file page

Photographs are illustrative examples of the type, not necessarily the exact object described. Verify details against the source file page.

Sources & references

  1. Daniels, G., Watchmaking

Where sources disagree, the disagreement is stated rather than resolved silently.