Push the button on a tool for the wrist

The chronograph is the evergreen survivor of the watch world, writes Timothy Barber

For a tool whose practical usefulness evaporated long ago, the chronograph has shown remarkable powers of endurance. The stopwatch-in-awatch is not simply a niche complication for those nostalgic for the days of old-school motorsports and aviation, but a function that sits squarely at the heart of the mainstream in watches – despite the fact that you will rarely, if ever, use it to time anything at all.

This year has seen a slew of significant chronograph releases that are covered in this issue of Telegraph Time, from the relaunch of Breitling around a new example, the Navitimer 8, to TAG Heuer’s return to the road with Aston Martin.

The star model is surely A. Lange & Söhne’s Triple Split (main picture, third from top; see story on page 9), revealed at Geneva’s SIHH watch fair in January. Its purpose – offering split times for seconds, minutes and hours – is secondary to the sheer mastery involved in achieving it, as displayed in its sublime, multi-layered movement.

Meanwhile, at this week’s Baselworld fair, Patek Philippe is demonstrating that a chronograph can be a beautiful women’s watch too, with its diamond-adorned Reference 7150 (inset, right). A point of interest is the pulsometer scale around its dial, designed for a medic timing a patient’s heartbeat.

The simple fact is that the chronograph adds levels of intrigue and interaction to a watch that are indubitably satisfying. Buttons to push, a busy dial of arcane registers and measurements, and the residue of its old connections to active lifestyles, military adventure and speed.

And if you are determined to make it useful, there’s always the option of using it to time boiling an egg. Patek Philippe’s Reference 7150 contains a hand-wound movement, and is set with 72 diamonds