![]() Patek Philippe was the first watchmaker to accommodate all the finickety components of a split-seconds chronograph in a wristwatch. Mr Gaston Breitling launched the world’s first wrist chronograph with a push-piece separated out from the crown at two o’clock, to make the operation of start, stop and reset all the more functional.ġ923: The first split-seconds chronograph ![]() Reportedly, Heuer had equipped doctors with a similar chronograph in 1908, but it was almost certainly a pocket watch repurposed for the wrist. The first purpose-built wristwatch chronograph is a “doctor’s watch” with pulsometer calibration. A chronograph in the truest “drawing time” sense. Mr Moinet used it to help make astronomical observations, and, impressively for the first item of its kind, it could measure time down to a 60th of a second.Ī design since aped by the Montblanc watch of the same name, it dropped an ink dot onto a rotating paper disc to time horses. Mr Nicolas Rieussec’s crude contraption of 1821, (a true “time writer” as the Greek-derived “chronograph” contraction translates), dolloped a spot of ink onto a rotating disc of paper and dropped another when the timed event – usually, a horse race – came to an end.Īs it transpired at a Christie’s watch auction in 2012, there was another, older chronograph in existence: a rather boxy, tired-looking pocket watch made in 1816 by Mr Louis Moinet (although, because you look at the elapsed time as indicated by the hands, rather than it being drawn, it is a chrono_scope_ in the strictest Greek sense just like every other so-called chronograph, in fact). What we thought was the first ever stopwatch wasn’t even a watch at all, and had neither hands or dials. It is an oddity of watchmaking history that until 2012, we weren’t even sure who had made the first chronograph. Our guide distills this history to its landmark points, and explains some of the often confusing terminology you’ll find when shopping for a chronograph today.ġ816: Mr Louis Moinet’s Compteur de Tierces Despite the existence of digital alternatives, they are still are prized by pilots and drivers alike, and desire for mid-century models has fuelled a roaring boom in the vintage watch market. Since the turn of the millennium, developments in manufacturing techniques ushered in a flurry of highly advanced chronographs from the world’s top watchmakers, but the chronograph’s appeal remains ubiquitous. The very first was conceived as an aid to astronomical observations over the years, chronographs have proven indispensable to everything from horse racing to space exploration.Īs with all the most practical innovations in watchmaking, they were used extensively in warfare and, in the second half of the 20th century, became indelibly associated with motorsport, particularly Formula 1. Since their invention more than 200 years ago, chronographs have established themselves as far and away the most versatile additions to the field of timekeeping.
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