Racing Chronographs: Why Car Watches Carry Race Names

Many famous chronographs are named after races, tracks or the racing life. The names are not random. They show how closely watches and motorsport have been linked.

Heuer Carrera, 1963

The Carrera took its name from the short lived Carrera Panamericana road race. It was designed with gentleman drivers in mind, according to Gear Patrol. Driver Jo Siffert later helped promote Heuer through motorsport, as noted by Chronext.

Heuer Monaco, 1969

The Monaco is named after the famous race. It used Calibre 11, one of the first automatic chronograph movements. Steve McQueen wore one in the 1971 film Le Mans.

Rolex Daytona, 1963

The Cosmograph Daytona became Rolex’s dedicated motorsport watch. The name comes from Daytona International Speedway, and Rolex also sponsors the 24 Hours of Daytona.

Omega Speedmaster, 1957

The name points to a racing origin. Its tachymeter bezel backs that up.

What the tachymeter does

A tachymeter scale works with the chronograph to measure speed over a known distance. It was used in auto racing, though few owners use it today. On most watches now it is a design detail with a real history.

What a chronograph actually does

A chronograph is a watch with a stopwatch built in. Two pushers on the side of the case control it. The top one starts and stops the timing, and the bottom one resets the hands to zero.

Most racing chronographs have three small dials on the face: running seconds, a minutes counter and an hours counter. That is why the dial looks busy compared with a plain watch, and it is also why the pushers sit where a driver’s thumb would naturally reach if the watch were worn over a glove.

The word is not the same as chronometer. A chronometer is a watch that has passed an accuracy test, a certification rather than a feature. The two get mixed up constantly, including in watch listings.

How to use the tachymeter

The scale on the bezel measures average speed, and it only works with the stopwatch running.

Start the chronograph as you pass a marker, stop it after exactly one mile, and the second hand points to your average speed in miles per hour. That is the whole trick. The same scale works over a kilometre if you read it as kilometres per hour, provided the watch was made with a metric scale.

The scale usually stops somewhere around 60 units at the top, which is where it runs out of room. Below that it reads in ever smaller steps, so a stopwatch reading of 30 seconds is around 120 mph.

The Speedmaster went to the Moon first

Omega’s Speedmaster is a racing watch by name and a space watch by reputation. NASA put several chronographs through testing in 1965 and cleared the Speedmaster for flight, and it was on the wrist of Buzz Aldrin when he stepped onto the lunar surface in 1969.

The tachymeter bezel stayed. So did the manual movement and the three-dial layout, which is why a watch designed for a racetrack ended up as the reference point for a completely different kind of timing.

What to check on a modern racing chronograph

Three things decide whether a chronograph is worth owning.

• Movement. A mechanical chronograph, automatic or manual, is the version collectors care about. A quartz chronograph keeps better time for a fraction of the money, and there is nothing wrong with choosing one.
• Where the tachymeter sits. On the bezel it is easy to read and it wears larger on the wrist. Printed inside the dial it stays out of the way and keeps the case slim.
• Service cost. A mechanical chronograph has several hundred more parts than a plain watch. Ask for the last service date and what a service costs before you buy anything vintage.

Buying tips

• Check the reference number against the brand’s records before you pay.
• Ask whether the dial, hands and bezel are original.
• Get service history when it exists.

Sources: Gear Patrol and Chronext.

Racing watches borrow names from famous races. Learn more in our Le Mans guide and our Indianapolis Motor Speedway guide. For another piece of racing gear with a story behind it, read how the first full face racing helmet arrived in 1966.

What is the difference between a chronograph and a chronometer?

A chronograph has a built-in stopwatch. A chronometer is a watch that has passed an official accuracy test. One is a feature and the other is a certification.

How do you use a tachymeter?

Start the chronograph at a marker and stop it after exactly one mile. The second hand then points to your average speed in miles per hour.