What are the 3 dials for on a watch?

Are you intrigued by chronograph watches ? You wonder What represent the 3 small dials inside the main dial?

Welcome to My Pocket Watch, the store specialized in watchmaking! Each week, our teams try to answer a maximum of your questions thanks to specialized items.

Today, we deal with the question concerning the Meaning of auxiliary dials that can be found on certain watches! Even if they seem strange, in relation to their costing or their unique needle, you will see that they are very easy to understand!

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What is a chronograph watch?

The small dials that we see on certain watches are specific to chronograph watches ! Therefore, it is imperative to know what it is! What is a chronograph watch? What is its use? This is what we will see right here.

an additional complication

A chronograph watch is a watch involving 2 distinct mechanisms! The first mechanism consists of simply give the time while the second mechanism aims to Measure a short time interval , a timer function simply.

the difference with the chronometer

However, why are we talking about chronograph and not a chronometer, if the latter offer the same function? In fact, the difference between a chronograph and a chronometer is very simple! The chronometer only designates the tool to calculate the time interval given while a chronograph is a watch, with a chronometer ! If you have a sense of detail, you have probably noticed that Some chronograph watches have chronometer appellation . In order for a chronograph to obtain this name, it requires a COSC certificate (Official Swiss Termination of Chronometers) because a chronometer is a tool requiring extreme precision . In summary:

• A chronograph represents the mechanism to calculate a short time interval . It can be called chronometer only when the chronograph is quite precise and has the COSC certificate .
• A chronograph watch is a watch with a mechanism giving the time as well as a chronograph (or chronometer).

to serve the 3 dials on a watch?

Some chronograph watches have small dials . These are called auxiliary dials! often in number of 2 or 3, they allow to facilitate the use of the chronograph . If we use a stopwatch to calculate intervals of a few seconds, they will be useless. However, if you use the stopwatch for several minutes or several hours, the use of these small dials will be essential! Let's see here why:

1) Watch dial 10 - 20 - 30

This dial is graduated in minutes . This allows to count the minutes in the event that your time lasts more than 60 seconds. The dial 10 20 30 will therefore allow us to time up to 30 minutes. Note that there is another variant of this dial of up to 60 minutes!

2) Watch dial 3 - 6 - 9 - 12

This dial is graduated in hours . Like the minute dial, it allows you to remember up to 12 hours of timing!

3) Watch dial 15 - 30 - 45 - 60

And no, this dial does not allow you to remember up to 60 hours! In fact, it is simply a graduated dial in seconds . The usefulness of this one can be zero knowing that we already have the face of the large dial allowing to calculate the seconds but think again! When using a stopwatch on a watch, the latter will no longer be able to give the time knowing that the second needle is used for the time. Therefore, this last dial allows to take over from the second hand so that your watch can always give the time at the same time as timing !

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In this article, you learned a little more about chronograph watches! We have seen together that this is the name attributed to the watches with a timing mechanism in addition to the classic horoding mechanism. We also answered the main question concerning meaning and usefulness of auxiliary dials on a watch! Each week, we offer articles on the theme of watchmaking so do not hesitate to register for our newsletter as well as to come back to see us regularly in order to learn a little more about your passion!