The flyback chronograph is an important innovation in stopwatch timepieces. Find out why!
There’s a lot of lore around the chronograph watch. It’s the kind of mythic epicness that spans a wide range of tastes, too. We associate chronos with science, gadgetry, and going to the moon.
We also associate it with the sporty side of the good life; I’m talking la dolce vita, Italian motorsports, or even old-world regatta life.
When the flyback chronograph came about, it revolutionized all of these worlds. Timing is everything in sports, science, aviation, and, heck, life even. It was a simple function, operated by complex engineering — and it made all the difference.
Here’s everything you need to know about the flyback chronograph.
Table of Contents
What Is a Flyback Chronograph
Remember, a chronograph is a timepiece that comes with a stopwatch. So, in addition to telling you the current time, you can use it to measure intervals of time. So, it makes perfect sense that chronographs would be popular on the race tracks.
A flyback chronograph is a timepiece with a stopwatch that allows you to reset that stopwatch function instantly.
This means that, at one single press of a button, the sweep hand’s timing intervals can be set right back to zero. And it can do this even while that hand is running.
You don’t need to stop it and then start it over. So, let’s say you want to know how long it takes for a car to finish each lap without the said car having to stop.
Every time it hits the finish line, you just press the reset button, it goes back to zero, and it immediately continues.
This is why it’s called a flyback. That sweep hand flies right back to the start in one swift motion.
Could you imagine the math needed to time this kind of activity prior to the instant reset? You’d likely have to record every specific second aligning with when the car hits the finish line.
Then, you’d circle back and figure out how many seconds happened between each benchmark second.
Okay, so that isn’t that bad, but let’s be real. You save loads of time when all you have to do is press reset, then record, press reset, then record, press reset, and so on. No circling back.
What Is the Difference Between Flyback and Regular Chronograph
Since the defining feature of a flyback chronograph is its instant reset, a regular chronograph is simply one that doesn’t do this. With a standard chronograph, you can measure one interval of time as easily as you can with a flyback.
However, if you want to do multiple intervals, you’ll need to stop the stopwatch. Then, you’ll reset that stopwatch secondhand sweep back to zero. Then you’ll start it again.
Timing with a traditional chronograph is no big deal if you aren’t measuring back-to-back intervals. But take the example mentioned above, or even say you want to measure each lap as a swimmer consecutively swims back and forth in a pool.
This would take some circling back. That is unless your fingers move at light speed and you’re outrageously dexterous.
Who Made the First Flyback Chronograph
Longines developed the first flyback chronograph for wristwatches, caliber 13.33Z, in 1925. This makes perfect sense since Longines is known for its contributions to flight.
The flyback has roots in the origins of planes, as pilots needed reliable ways to deal with and time the new levels of speed aircraft could achieve. The longer it takes to time positions, the more likely positional errors occur.
However, since the competitiveness of Swiss watchmaking is a tale as old as time, Breitling patented the flyback before Longines could. This happened in 1935.
Conclusion: A True Innovation in Timekeeping
Truly, the flyback is a feat of engineering.
When you press the reset button, a lever is pulled, which disconnects a clutch that stops the chronograph. Simultaneously, another level moves that hand back to zero.
Then, at the release of that button, that clutch reconnects, and that second sweep hand is back at it — all within nanoseconds. It’s a genuinely gymnastic combination of movement.
It’s easy to take for granted, but even today, it takes a skilled watchmaker to build one of these.
Are you a Chronograph fan? Flybacks are common these days, but have you ever used a standard one? Let us know what you think!
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