Chronographs?

Some have a fixed bezel with speed numbers that correspond to vehicle distance markers at 1 kilometer or 1 mile. Or just time your eggs.

I don’t use them thusly I don’t own a chronograph. But the display casebacks are fun to look at!

It's to track arbitrary amounts of elipsed time. I use mine to track how long it's been since I've started the clothes washer, at work to see if 6 or 10 minutes have passed since I set a machine to a drying cycle, how long I've been mixing a spray bottle (usually need about 2 mins), cooking times, how long since I've parked at a parking space with a time limit, how long I've been writing on my day off, etc, etc. Really useful, although a dive bezel can do most of that as well, but the push button convenience is really handy

Chronographs are useful for timing laps in racing, whether on foot, on horseback, or in a car. There is a reason a Rolex chronograph is called a Daytona.

I mostly uses my chronograph to simply time stuff, like time to do the groceries, cooking time, time to walk from point A to B... Mostly just for fun. Like the dive watch, nobody really uses them for their full potential/real usage, it just looks so damn nice.

I use mine everyday just to prove my wife wrong that they are useless. Usually when I’m cooking. But to calculate speed just doesn’t make any sense, cause you’ll need an exact distance to actually calculate speed. (Way easier with an app)

I own two and love them, but more for what the movement does than the functionality :-D

I wore my Seiko Worldtimer/Chronograph today to time my wait times at Disney's Animal Kingdom.

But most people buy them because they are cool and like the tri-compex or bi-compax design.

You can use the ones on Casio watches to play games such as trying to stop it on a certain time or else you have to buy the next round of drinks, or the devil will get your soul if you're 8 years old or something.

A countdown timer is more useful (for pizza etc.) if your oven doesn't have a timer built-in which is probably impossible nowadays.

I bought a quartz chronograph just to see how I liked using the complication.

I prefer a dive bezel over a chronograph for daily use.

I'm glad I tried the quartz first because mechanical chronographs require regular maintenance/ servicing that can sometimes cost more than the watch itself.

I like them because they're cool yes - but also use them to time runs/bike trips/car trips on the useful side and occasionally other things like daily reading time. Would a digital watch or phone be better at this? Yes. But we don't like wristwatches because of their utility alone

I sold mine because I always forgot what I was timing. I would find it running hours or days later. Give me a good legible dive or field watch any day.

They are like watches in general. No one needs one but they're neat. And different. Both positives in my eyes.

I am privileged to be able to work in a lab setting and find timing things quite effective with my chronograph (especially if I have latex/nitrile gloves on and/or I can’t easily access my phone). One of the very few moments that’s it’s usually easier for me to use my watch’s function instead of whip out my iPhone to do the same task. Other than that, it’s fun to time plane rides… or how long your SO has taken to get ready after the “5 more minutes” has been shouted…hopefully she doesn’t see this, otherwise I’ll be timing how long I’m sleeping on the couch!

Like the dryer timer. Right on!

Yes, it's a cool watch! What makes chronograph watches cool is their mechanisms! As you mentioned, field watches are highly legible, and dress watches are for formal occasions. Which means, imo, it's highly up to the dial design.

But the chronograph watches (although their appeals also heavily depend on the design of the dial) are more about complex machinery. And I sure do use it sometimes to just time some irrelevant stuff haha.

For musicians are kinda of of userul. I will have a performance where I'll play a song with a lot of improvisation. I used my chronograph to time how long is the performance.

I personally use mine to time random stuff or to fidget when I’m bored.

But lately I prefer non chronograph watches. The simpler the better

They offer a different aesthetic than a diver watch bezel, look rad and perfect to time pasta. That's it.

https://youtu.be/Ftf8mafEdS8?feature=shared a vid by Peter Kosta ✅

I’ve just bought my first chronograph. It’s a studio underdog, but short of watching the movement work when pressing the pushers when it arrived on day one, I’m not really looking through the case back.

I use a smart speaker (homepod) to set countdown timers when I’m cooking.

In the morning though, I get up a good hour or two before my partner. I’ve been using the chronograph so far to time five minute stretches when brewing coffee (big Hoffman method fan here).

Handy enough as the timing doesn’t need to be super precise in the way a countdown timer would be. Very handy in how it doesn’t loudly wake my partner up in the next room, unlike the smart speaker.

I’ve found it really helps when cooking bigger dinners too. I can set as many timers on my smart speaker as I like, but I have to name them and ask Siri which timer is which (eg “how long left on the pasta? And how long left for the oven?”)

Now I can glance at the chronograph on my wrist. Sounds unnecessary, but it’s actually quite useful in that I don’t need to worry about messy fingers on a phone touch screen either for timers.

It’s not something I’ll do all the time, but it’s handy basically. Other than that I’ve just been timing silly things, like how long does it take me to go all the way down to the basement level of my building to put the bins out. Now that I know it’s about 4 minutes, I’ll not do that task if I’m running late for something before I leave the house etc.

Much like any watch that isn’t a Casio F91W, the only justification is “because I can and I want to.”

Just because they look cool, I use mine occasionally to time mundane tasks like cooking, parking etc... but mainly just for fun. Surely every hobby should have fun at the centre of it 👍

Same as the crunchers above, I use my chronos to time pasta and rice boiling times and baking times. It really is much more convenient to set timers on the phone, and I don’t own any smart speakers as I decided to live my life with as less connected home devices as possible

But mainly, I wear chronos because they look damn cool and because I admire the level of technical complexity in their movements.

If you don't get it, you don't need one.

...and just all around cool watch. Big race nerd so if I'm watching a race I'm usually sporting a chrono.

Like everyone else here I use it to time my lunch break, boil eggs, cook pasta etc

It's more useful to me than a GMT complication.

I use it to time my therapy sessions. (I'm a phisiotherapist).

If we’re really honest most watch complications and features are either about aesthetics and/or watchmaking prowess and innovation (esp with certain brands) even though there is technically utilitarian value that is also attached to history . . . But that value for everyday/professional use faded with the advent of other technology. And most of us aren’t divers or astronauts or spies in any case. We just think certain watches look cool. Most people buy with their eyes.

The majority of the time I'm actually using a chronograph I'm cooking something and generally forget to check it until well after when I should have, then I start over and use a timer with an alarm function

Thank you so much all 🙏🏻for your feedback and stories. The Peter Kosta video was very informative and I had no clue that the chronograph can so easily measure time. I have a mich deeper appreciation for this then before.

I had stopped using watches since the smart phone came out and only recently got back to wearing watches again. So I dug up 2 watches that I had way back in the day and lo and behold both were chronographs! Back when I didn’t even know what a chronograph was and would argue not even today! So clearly the younger me was way ahead of his time and had an appreciation for things I’ve forgotten.

Apple should rename their Stopwatch feature to Chronograph 😀

So if I had to ‘settle’ on getting a chronograph I would probably go for

And I even know how to use the tachymeter now 😀

I use mine especially when working (engineering) in factory zones, with potential explosive gasses. Here I canr use a phone or quartz, but a mechanical chronograph is safe and allowed.

And apart from that - they just look damn cool ☺