Let Your Chronograph Run?

[wuyeah]

I was wondering, What will happen if I let me chronograph run like a week, a month, a year or more without stop.

Is it bad for the watch? or good for the watch or itt shouldn't matter. What is the longest tiime you have let your chronograph run?

[hidden by leaves]

If I need to time something that takes a year I use a calendar.

[Ray916MN]

The general thought has been that it is better for vertical clutch chronographs to run continuously as there is less clutch wear when the clutch is disengaged (just like a car). If your watch uses a sliding/tilting pinion arrangement to engage and disengage timing, it is better to leave the watch disengaged.

[lvt]

What is the motivation to let the chronograph run for a week or a month ?

[wuyeah]

What is the motivation to let the chronograph run for a week or a month ?

Never done it. I thought I should ask first just in case :D

[SwedishElite22]

When I was in high school I got my first chrono and simply let it run constantly for all intents and purposes. I woke up, I timed how long it took me to get from bed to ready for the day, I timed shifts at work, and anything else I could think of... I found stuff to time to simply let the Chrono run.

Never serviced the watch or anything outside of a battery for some 5-6 years. Then the watch stopped working, I assumed due to a battery and it sat as my other watch got wrist time. Come to find out the Chrono burned out and needed to be replaced.

Some years later my wife took it out of my dresser drawer and had it fixed for me (it has sentimental value) for a gift... since then I have only used the Chrono to time specific events (flights, etc) but nothing close to how I did back in the day and I use the bezel most times. Now it is back in rotation and my signature.

[Sparky2]

Good question. I have heard this asked before as some like to leave the chrono running because they prefer a watch with a sweeping large second’s hand. On some watches it stays at the 12:00 position unless timing something. Also, it would be good to know in case you are worried what will happen if you forget to turn it off once you have started timing.

The answer appears to be what Ray916MN said. My problem is I do not know what kind of clutch my watch has – if any. I have a Swiss Legend quartz (ETA-G10.211 based) watch. I understand that some quartz watches have the chronograph function added on in a mechanical fashion. I am not sure if that is true for this watch and, if it is, is it bad for this chrono function to be left on.

[BrooklineWatch]

I was having trouble with my Tissot PRC 200 Automatic Chronograph. Even manually wound to a full power reserve, and worn for 14 hours a day, it would not run over night through to the next morning. Now that I think of it, the chronograph function was running the whole time (I too like a large seeping second hand). Forgive me if this is a stupid notion, but would that draw the power reserve down more quickly and account for the problem I was having?

[Ozy]

Google -Fu is weak on above questions.Chronocentric: Owners's Guide to Fine Wristwatches=Owner's Zone

[lvt]

What are we talking about ? Mechanical or quartz chronograph ?

- Quartz : most quartz chrono have power saving feature that stops the chrono hand after a certain period of time, when you press a button the chrono resumes automatically. So it's impossible to have the chrono hands constantly moving with this type of movement.

- Mechanical : technically the chrono can run as long as you want, even if the chrono hour dial has only 12H max. It shouldn't matter if it's a sub $200 watch but when you have an Omega or a Rolex you should think twice before doing so, if the movement breaks just after the warranty period you'll have to spend like $600 to have it fixed.