A watch with a stopwatch function that can start, stop and reset elapsed-time measurement while continuing to tell the time.
A chronograph’s timing mechanism runs independently of the time display. Its hand is started, stopped and returned to zero on demand, with two pushers, usually on either side of the crown, and subsidiary counters total the minutes and hours elapsed, most often 30 minutes and 12 hours. Inside, a column wheel or a cam coordinates the three functions, and a horizontal or vertical coupling connects the chronograph to the running movement at the start. A flyback stops, resets and restarts with one press.
A chronograph is not a chronometer. The first times short intervals; a chronometer is a watch whose rate has been tested and certified by an independent body under ISO 3159, for a mechanical movement typically within −4 to +6 seconds a day. The chronograph is classed as a complication for measuring short times.
In job listings
Chronograph appears mostly in watchmaker, after-sales service and restoration roles, where servicing and adjusting chronograph mechanisms is part of the bench work, and in production apprenticeships. The Fondation Haute Horlogerie lists assembling chronograph mechanisms among a production watchmaker’s tasks. See current chronograph roles.
