The history of the chronograph is a storied one. For many years, French watchmaker Nicolas Mathieu Rieussec was credited with the invention of the complication in 1821. Then, in 2012, a timepiece surfaced at a sale held Christie’s in Geneva that altered watchmaking history. The pocket stopwatch was a. The device largely resembled the chronograph as we know it today with start, stop, and reset functions operated by two pushers.
Fast forward another 150 years, and you have one of the greatest debates in watchmaking history: who invented the first automatic chronograph? Ask three different collectors, and you’ll get three different answers. Some will insist it was Zenith that was the first to announce itsin January 1969. Others maintain it was Seiko that released its 6139 automatic chronograph movement to the Japanese market in May 1969.
The history of the chronograph may be up for discussion, but one thing is certain: decades later, the chronograph is still the most wildly popular complication in watchmaking. These are a dozen of the coolest chronographs on the market right now.We’ve seen Rolex iterate on the Daytona—arguably one of its most iconic models—numerous times, from highly coveted variations like the Paul Newman to super trendy ones like.