Counting Back

A new crop of reissued chronographs makes the case for leaving your dive watch at the door.

Classic chronographs are rich with character and history. However, the stopwatch feature that defines them is complex and expensive to produce. As a result, manufacturers are quicker to prioritize reissues of time-only pieces — like dive and field watches — but a new wave of chronographs suggests the tides may be turning. What’s more, a trend to shrink the chronograh’s case size has made the category more wearable than ever.