Easily one of the most visually stimulating watches on the market, the chronograph is a useful timepiece that offers fraction-of-a-second timing to sports enthusiasts. There is a wealth of different types of chronographs on the market—such as single-pusher chronographs, multi-pushers, and dual- or triple-subdial indication chronographs—built for weekend casual or sporty appeal, for business, or for the boardroom.

Swiss watchmaker Nicolas Rieussec invented chronographs in 1821. The first one, used to measure times in a horse race, was a clock with a hand constructed of a small engraving pen; it actually recorded, on the dial, the start and finish times of the race by leaving a small dot of ink at each end. Rieussec was awarded a patent the following year. Since this initial unveiling, the progression of chronographs moved swiftly, so that by the first decade of the 20th century, watchmakers had perfected the mechanism to incredible degrees. Today, chronographs can often be combined with other functions as well, including pulsimeters, tachymeters, and more.