Who sometimes does not dream of being able to stop time? With a chronograph, it can not be stopped, but it can be stopped. The additional function of short time measurement allows you to independently start and stop the second hand, and then return it to the starting position.

Paris-based watchmaker Nicolas-Mathieu Rieussec (1781-1866) coined the term chronograph in 1821. Patented in 1821, his invention, a system for measuring short periods of time, consisted of a rotating dial and a hand with a small ink container attached to it. The ink strokes left on the dial could be used to determine the period of time to be measured. The first automatic chronograph was not launched until 1969 by Zenith and Movado as "El Primero" (the first). Combined with other complementary complications, the chronograph makes a wristwatch a true multifunctional tool.
Chronographs are time recorders. They measure time, give it a frame and record the duration of an activity. Developed over many decades, the chronograph can be considered the collective work of many resourceful watchmakers. It began as early as 1720 with George Graham and an apparatus for estimating an event duration. 100 years later, the Frenchman Rieussec, invented a chronograph in the literal sense - a rotating dial with a writing mechanism recorded time intervals in the form of dashes and dots.
Pocket watches with stop second hands existed since about 1800, but these brought the whole movement to a standstill. Up to the today's function mode still some clockmakers and inventions followed. Thanks to Auguste Baud and the additional mechanism for the stop pointer on the movement side, the chronograph was then finally suitable for everyday use around 1880.