How important is the chronograph mechanism when determining whether to get a chronograph?

Choice E - Column Wheel with a Vertical Clutch

https://revolutionwatch.com/vertical-clutch-chronographs/

Choice F - quartz with indiglo

Avoid 'em myself, the service costs are the same as another good quality watch to add to my collection. (Had a Hamilton X-wind automatic chronograph and was quoted £1200 , needless to say I sold it quickly)

Only chronograph's I currently have are the Quartz Lunar Pilot and my much treasured fully restored Pogue...

The Indiglo is always a win.

This is a very important consideration that many people discover at the time of service.

I, myself, have put off service for some chronographs on account of cost and - impulsively - bought other ⌚ that were in excess of service fees for the said ⌚.

A chronograph is a deep commitment, such that it may not warrant owning only chronographs because of service fees alone regardless of a column wheel or cam-actuated mechanism.

I am of the mindset that I am not interested in a ⌚ lacking complications, in addition to a date and hacking seconds (🙄. . .I would hope those do not constitute advanced ⌚ features) or a unique movement, such as a micro rotor.

This means that ownership is expensive, hence leading me to understand why ⌚ owners may be reluctant to own chronographs or other complications like GMTs.

Does anyone have an idea about servicing of jumping hour mechanisms, such as a regulator or the Christopher Ward Bel Canto?

How about the Vulcain cricket or Jaeger-LeCoultre Memovox?

Perpetual Calendar service is outrageous, as are brands like A. Lange & Söhne.

Yet, this is the reality of choosing mechanical ⌚ over a smartwatch.

So this is why chronographs are so expensive...

But the only mechanical chrono I will ever be able to afford is Seagull ST.19. It has a column wheel, but I don't presume it's as sophisticated as the ones mentioned.

The ST19 is based on the Venus 175.

The Venus 175 was a solid well respected column wheel chronograph movement...

https://reference.grail-watch.com/family/venus-175/#:~:text=175%20family%20consists%20of%20standard,wheel%20to%20control%20the%20chronograph.

When the Chinese purchased the materials/machines/designs/etc. they modified it to what is today the ST19.

Here is a really good article that gives the background on the ST19...

https://kaminskyblog.com/2017/09/12/seagull-st19-chronograph-movement-review-brief-history/

Nothing wrong with the ST19, it is just that experience has shown the quality of production to be a bit sketchy.

I have several watches with ST19 movements in them. I have had a few bad experiences with poor quality. Provided that the brand spends time to ensure the quality of the movement like Baltic does, then you should be reasonably OK.

The issue will be if it does have problems, there is no one around to fix it without sending it back to the manufacturer.