Our Love Affair with Chronographs

Our Love Affair with Chronographs

“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways….”

Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861), Sonnets from the Portuguese

Watch lovers love chronographs. There’s an irresistible charm to them. They’re absolutely beautiful and they’re also high-tech instruments which measure elapsed seconds and then count them. Of all complications ever made for mechanical watches, chronographs are undoubtedly the most popular.

While our love of chronographs isn’t exactly blind, their allure still isn’t easy to define. Measuring elapsed time certainly can be useful. Yet our attraction might be more philosophical: if a watch displays absolute time, a chronograph measures relative time. Or it might be that there’s something about a chronograph’s interactive character. Unlike a “regular” watch which simply “tells” the time, the chronograph owner can start and stop timing whenever desired. It’s about a relationship, to be sure, but also there’s something about the “look” of a chronograph. They just look great –enticingly so.

A chronograph is named from the Greek chronos (“time”) and graphô (“I write”). Not to be confused with “chronometers”, which are especially accurate timekeeping devices, a chronograph in essence is a stopwatch combined with a “regular” watch. While attributed to a 1720 invention by Graham in England, the Parisian watchmaker Rieussec in 1822 invented a watch that actually recorded elapsed time with a series of ink dots on the dial. In 1862, Adolphe Nicole of Switzerland then developed a chronograph with an elapsed time hand that could be set back to zero.

IWC first joined the chronograph phenomenon around 1910, with the pocket watch model shown here. Utilizing an outsourced movement from Nicolet, because it had a pulsations scale, the watch was intended for medical use. After a relatively few examples were produced, either as pure chronographs or with other complications, IWC did not make another chronograph for about 70 years. Instead, during the glory years of the mechanical wristwatch -- from about 1930 to the early 1970s — IWC was known for its superbly engineered “basic” mechanical watches. Probus Scafusia stood for good, solid craftsmanship from Schaffhausen. No frills and virtually no complications; just great watches.

But in about 1980, IWC reintroduced the mechanical chronograph to the watch world. It was a gutsy move, and one that essentially redefined IWC for the future. Back in the 1970s the introduction of quartz wristwatches decimated the Swiss mechanical watch industry. Several of the Swiss watch companies that concentrated on mechanical chronographs more or less went broke. But under the leadership of Günter Blümlein, an alliance between IWC and Porsche Design was forged in the late 1970s. IWC then introduced a Porsche Design mechanical chronograph model in 1980. This model, Reference 3700, used an outsourced Valjoux 7750 movement, termed here IWC calibre 790. It was the start of something big.

Surprisingly in an era of quartz watches, the IWC Porsche Design chronograph quickly became a large seller. Anecdotal reports claim that, back in the early 1980s, this watch annually sold more units than all other mechanical chronographs by all other Swiss companies combined. It was a smashing success and certainly played a key role in the rebirth of interest in mechanical chronographs.

IWC followed this triumph with other chronographs. It combined the chronograph with Kurt Klaus’ revolutionary perpetual calendar in 1985, and IWC’s revolutionary Da Vinci model was born. IWC used a chronograph mechanism in a flight watch in 1988, and a whole reawakening of interest in pilots’ watches occurred. IWC also took the proven Valjoux chronograph base, substituted most of the parts, and produced elaborate Grand Complication and Il Destriero Scafusia models. IWC then produced rattrapantes and also just “regular” chronographs. As the mechanical watch industry was reborn in the 1980s and early1990s, IWC was there as a leader, and especially with chronographs.

The importance of chronographs to this surge of renewed interest in mechanical watches, and the role that IWC played, cannot be overestimated. As the market subsequently has become inundated with countless chronograph models by many dozens of brands, IWC’s leadership here can easily be overlooked. Yet to the extent that IWC stood as a sports-watch company or a flight-watch company, or as a producer of clever complications or even simply a producer of fine timekeeping instruments, its chronographs always rose to the front.

One interesting aspect of this phenomenon is that IWC used Valjoux base mechanical chronograph movements since 1980. Back in the late 1970s there was hardly any interest in mechanical watches, let alone chronographs. As a consequence only a handful of specialist companies then produced base chronograph movements. In that era, it made no sense and was impractical for IWC to produce its own chronograph movements. Instead IWC took the Valjoux raw base, or ebauche, and considerably elaborated it. Even in some basic models, like the Portuguese Ref. 3714, IWC went to the trouble of relocating dials and adding jewels. In more complicated models, like the Grand Complication, the original Valjoux base really couldn’t be recognized, and a minority of the original parts remained.

Over the past several years, there has been a growing emphasis on in-house movements. From the perspective of a watch company, self-sufficiency can make business sense and also the “in-house” pedigree has some perceived value. For some watch collectors, “in-house” may be better, at least in some abstract sense, although one could legitimately question if it matters where screws and plates were produced, let alone designed. In theory, there can be well-made outsourced movements and poorly executed in-house ones. The real key may be to produce an in-house movement that is truly special, and offers something more.

IWC has answered the call of chronograph lovers by now producing a special in-house chronograph movement. Its new calibre 89360, unveiled in April 2007, is special. For the true enthusiast, IWC’s new chronograph movement is beautiful. It’s well-designed, meets all functional criteria and has several unique characteristics. To the watch lover, it’s like falling in love all over again.

The movement’s specifications are classic, and much more. Calibre 89360 is a round 30mm movement (13 -1/4 ligne) with a total height of 7.46 mm. It has approximately 289 parts and a generous 40 jewels, which is quite high for an integrated (non-modular) design. It is a fast-beat movement 4 Hz (28,800 half-beats per hour). It has a lengthy power reserve of 68 hours. The chronograph function also utilizes a classical column wheel.

But the vital statistics here are just the beginning. The new movement has a newly designed winding system and special shock resistance, a flyback function and, most importantly, a new way of reading accumulated time. There’s much more here than meets the eye.

The winding system represents a new generation of IWC’s proprietary Pellaton design. For shock resistance, there is an automatic spring bridge, a further development of what was used in the Ingenieur’s calibre 80110. But the winding system's pawl design, originally developed by IWC’s legendary Albert Pellaton, has been completely revamped. As shown in this plastic model, there are now two double-winding pawls, totaling four, arranged in pairs. Rather than controlled by a cam or a heart disc on the rotor arbor, they now use a “crankshaft” The repositioning of the pawls has increased winding efficiency by nearly one-third.

The flyback function, sometimes called a “retour en vol” or “return in flight, is not as remarkable but still a first for IWC. It allows the chronograph hand to be reset and immediately start counting over. This is a nice touch, both in theory and also in practice if one needs to make multiple successive interval timings.

The crowning achievement, though, might well be the new accumulator dial. Most chronographs have three subdials: one for “normal” (non-chronograph) seconds, one for accumulated chronograph minutes, and one for accumulated chronograph hours. Accordingly, to determine a total elapsed time of more than 60 seconds, with most chronographs it is necessary to make three readings: the chronograph hand plus the minute totalizer plus the hour totalizer. Aesthetically, the dial becomes more cluttered.

Here, IWC has combined the minute and hour totalizers into one subdial. While relatively special in itself, IWC has done this with a twist, uniquely extending the concept. The totalizer subdial has 12-hour counting, which means that its reading is just like a clock. If the single totalizer subdial shows a “time” of 7:15 , that means that the chronograph has been running for seven hours and 15 minutes. To my knowledge, no other watch does that. It is easier to read and makes the accumulation of time a metaphor. Uniquely, the chronograph here truly becomes a watch within a watch. To accomplish this involved clever engineering: IWC developed a special three-pronged reset lever actuated by the lower chronograph button.

All this breaks new ground – IWC's new calibre 89360 demonstrates that the classic chronograph can be reinvented. Just as IWC brought the chronograph back to life in 1980, it has done so again. Here, it’s far more than excellent technical specifications and details. It’s about fine timing, in the best sense of those words. It's about beauty and sophistication. There’s something here for every IWC fan and for every chronograph lover. And it's not merely infatuation.

Calibre 89360 proves that there are countless ways to love chronographs.