A 400-500 Unit Tachymeter Scale is Absolutely Useless for Most Folks

[BristolCavendish]

For chronograph lovers, the tachymeter/stop watch function is its most attractive feature (whether strictly for looks or actual usage) and the pushers always add a nice touch to the overall appearance of the watch.

But one thing has always perplexed me and that is, whether it's on land (or water) a 400+ scale reading is somewhat useless from the standpoint of actual attainable speed.

The other evening, I saw a gentleman wearing a Seiko 6139/Pogue chronograph and on its tachymeter scale, a 50 unit reading is visible at 00:12. This made far more sense from the standpoint that even a F1 driver is rarely going to exceed 200 kph and the descending scale on the 6139 allowed for a sub 60 unit reading. For most practical applications, a 50-250 unit reading seems far more useful IMHO.

From the air, a 400+ reading is difficult to ascertain as the landmarks for establishing a visual reference point are oftentimes inaccurate and impractical. Besides, if one is going that fast, who has time to play around with the pushers?

Maybe it's the illusion of speed that makes these 400-500 scale readings more attractive than a lesser one + one can always use the 300 marker to approximate 50 (although most folks are unaware of that conversion).

[Chewbacca]

Good point.

(Says i the dssd buyer who's chasing Red October)

[Clay]

I think you are starting to get dangerously close to the realm of "need" vs "want"...

I wear a Deepsea every day...Do I need a watch that's waterproof to 12800 feet...

Of course not...

Do I want one...absolutely...

[GinzoMatic]

Supposedly one of Musk's newest electric cars is capable of over 400kph... you never know...

[BristolCavendish]

Originally Posted by GinzoMatic

Supposedly one of Musk's newest electric cars is capable of over 400kph... you never know...

Well if some guy gets pulled over by the highway patrol for doing 400+ on the freeway, he can always argue the case in traffic court with his Daytona.

[jimcameron]

Generally speaking, except as backup to other more accurate and complicated device's, watches are obsolete.

[breitlings]

not so bc. it also tells you units of production. i quickly figured out my old wolf winder rate by timing one rotation. it turned out to be 1400 tpd.

[BristolCavendish]

Originally Posted by breitlings

not so bc. it also tells you units of production. i quickly figured out my old wolf winder rate by timing one rotation. it turned out to be 1400 tpd.

True. If a factory foreman was monitoring the production of an assembly worker who was turning out one widget every 7 seconds (500 on the tachymeter scale), he could safely assume that the same worker should be cranking out 500 of them every hour.

So with that in mind, a chronograph with a tachymeter scale of 500 might come in handy for a work supervisor based on the overall simplicity of the task itself and the maximum number of units that could be produced over a relatively short amount of time.

[VicLeChic]

It's potentially more useful to have a scale between 50 kph and 60 kph than one between 300 and 3600 kph for regular people, but not for racing drivers.

Where did you get that a F1 car will rarely go over 200 kph? At top speed they go well above 300 kph at every lap. Top speed record is held by Montoya in Italy at 372.6kph (231.523mph) in 2005.

You have to remember that this tool was developped to quickly know your speed on a track at any given km interval, not on average around the track (although you could use it like that too). At 360 kph you need your scale at 10 seconds. Knowing your top speed at the end of a straight is essential to optimise aerodynamic settings (rear wing and front wing load for example)

And what if you floor your Bugati Chiron in the last stretch of the Nurburgring? You could easily reach 400kph, scaled at 9 seconds per km on your tachymeter.

[faz]

Originally Posted by BristolCavendish

True. If a factory foreman was monitoring the production of an assembly worker who was turning out one widget every 7 seconds (500 on the tachymeter scale), he could safely assume that the same worker should be cranking out 500 of them every hour.

So with that in mind, a chronograph with a tachymeter scale of 500 might come in handy for a work supervisor based on the overall simplicity of the task itself and the maximum number of units that could be produced over a relatively short amount of time.

[BristolCavendish]

Originally Posted by VicLeChic

Where did you get that a F1 car will rarely go over 200 kph? At top speed they go well above 300 kph at every lap. Top speed record is held by Montoya in Italy at 372.6kph (231.523mph) in 2005.

A mental lapse on my part as I often tend to get my mph's and kph's mixed-up.

Yes. 300 kph is more along the lines of F1 as 200 kph would be closer to 125 mph and a 250cc Superkart can easily exceed that speed.

The 400/500 tachymeter scale probably boils down to basic marketing strategy as the 'regular people' will always want to wear what the 'pros' wear.

[zengineer]

Is what you saw maybe a Pulsemeter watch where a medical professional counts 10 pulse beats and reads the scale to get beats per minute? (if ten beats takes 12 seconds, heartrate is 50 beats per minute.

Regardless, nothing says a chrono has to be used for kilometers.

[GradyPhilpott]

The scale has to start somewhere and where it starts is probably determined more by how much space the bezel provides than for the utility of the scale at the high end.

[BristolCavendish]

Originally Posted by GradyPhilpott

The scale has to start somewhere and where it starts is probably determined more by how much space the bezel provides than for the utility of the scale at the high end.

It's a design option based on the choice of scale readings.

Since the 12 hour position represents 60, going clockwise to 00:12 gives an under 60 range/reading of 50 which is probably more useful than a 400 reading @ 00:09 and/or 500 @ 00:07. As aforementioned, the Seiko 6139 chronograph opts for this particular bezel scale which allows for measuring speeds/units under 60.

While the Omega Speedmaster was the first chronograph in space and has a 500 bezel, the Seiko 6139 with its 50-250 bezel was worn on Skylab in 1973 by Col. Pogue and the model is aptly named after him. It was also one of the first (if not the first) production automatic chronographs. A cool watch of its own accord and a Seiko collectible.

[BristolCavendish]

As you can see, it was just a matter of rearranging the readings on the bezel dial. Sub 60 speeds are somewhat difficult to discern on a conventional 400/500 chronograph bezel unless one 'pre-visualizes' alternative readings.

[GradyPhilpott]

Originally Posted by BristolCavendish

It's a design option based on the choice of scale readings.

Since the 12 hour position represents 60, going clockwise to 00:12 gives an under 60 range/reading of 50 which is probably more useful than a 400 reading @ 00:09 and/or 500 @ 00:07. As aforementioned, the Seiko 6139 chronograph opts for this particular bezel scale which allows for measuring speeds/units under 60.

While the Omega Speedmaster was the first chronograph in space and has a 500 bezel, the Seiko 6139 with its 50-250 bezel was worn on Skylab in 1973 by Col. Pogue and the model is aptly named after him. It was also one of the first (if not the first) production automatic chronographs. A cool watch of its own accord and a Seiko collectible.

I see what mean now that you put it that way.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[Old Expat Beast]

Originally Posted by BristolCavendish

It's a design option based on the choice of scale readings.

Since the 12 hour position represents 60, going clockwise to 00:12 gives an under 60 range/reading of 50 which is probably more useful than a 400 reading @ 00:09 and/or 500 @ 00:07. As aforementioned, the Seiko 6139 chronograph opts for this particular bezel scale which allows for measuring speeds/units under 60.

While the Omega Speedmaster was the first chronograph in space and has a 500 bezel, the Seiko 6139 with its 50-250 bezel was worn on Skylab in 1973 by Col. Pogue and the model is aptly named after him. It was also one of the first (if not the first) production automatic chronographs. A cool watch of its own accord and a Seiko collectible.

A spiral tachy will get you right down to 20

[stainlesssteve]

The scale is "Units" per Hour, not Miles per Hour.

[BristolCavendish]

Originally Posted by Old Expat Beast

A spiral tachy will get you right down to 20

Interesting concept. Let's see now, 3 revolutions of the second hand = 20 (with the minute counter verifying the rotations).

Other than maybe making for a 'busy' dial, this works.

I was unaware that Omega and Tissot were inter-related 'back in the day'.

Originally Posted by stainlesssteve

The scale is "Units" per Hour, not Miles per Hour.

But applicable to both (including kph).

[Old Expat Beast]

Originally Posted by BristolCavendish

Interesting concept. Let's see now, 3 revolutions of the second hand = 20 (with the minute counter verifying the rotations).

Other than maybe making for a 'busy' dial, this works.

I was unaware that Omega and Tissot were inter-related 'back in the day'.

Yeah, Dan Henry makes an affordable modern version of that watch, which I picked up last year, as well as another 1930s chrono, which is even busier with three scales (Tele/Tachy/Pulse).

[BristolCavendish]

Originally Posted by Old Expat Beast

Yeah, Dan Henry makes an affordable modern version of that watch, which I picked up last year, as well as another 1930s chrono, which is even busier with three scales (Tele/Tachy/Pulse).

Just got off the DH web page. The 1939 Military Chronometer is a very cool retro design and reasonably priced. With a Miyota 6S21 movement, it sounds like a 'meca-quartz' (similar to the Seiko 6T63) so one gets quartz accuracy along with a sweeping stop-watch second hand and mechanical linkage for chronograph activation/reset.

What throws me off somewhat is that conversion table on the back of the watch. Trying to figure out how it works and if one has to go back and forth (e.g. taking the watch on & off) in order to utilize the readings/feature.

[Old Expat Beast]

Originally Posted by BristolCavendish

Just got off the DH web page. The 1939 Military Chronometer is a very cool retro design and reasonably priced. With a Miyota 6S21 movement, it sounds like a 'meca-quartz' (similar to the Seiko 6T63) so one gets quartz accuracy along with a sweeping stop-watch second hand and mechanical linkage for chronograph activation/reset.

What throws me off somewhat is that conversion table on the back of the watch. Trying to figure out how it works and if one has to go back and forth (e.g. taking the watch on & off) in order to utilize the readings/feature.

Case quality is excellent, but the caseback scale is too small to read with the naked eye. A nice touch maybe, but not something I would use or need.

The stopwatch hand doesn't sweep, it's more like about 4 ticks per second, but it works just fine, and the overall accuracy is about +2 secs per month, which very good even for quartz. I started a DH thread in the Non-Rolex section last year. https://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=558710

[Andad]

Just as useful as a clear caseback I s'pose Adam.

I like both my models.


Wait! Did BC put up a thread about watches???

[Old Expat Beast]

Glad to know yours reached you eventually Eddie.

[Andad]

I ended up with two of each.

DH sent me a second two when the first shipment went off the radar.

Both shipments arrived on the same day first shipment about 6 weeks second 6 days go figure.

Flicked one to my son for his birthday (white) and one to a friend for a wedding present (black).

Kept one if each.

All good fun at this price point.

Tell BC WE on TRF are not most folks.

[BristolCavendish]

Originally Posted by directioneng

Tell BC WE on TRF are not most folks.

In terms of driving 400 mph/kph per hour or knowing that 300 = 50?

Rumor has it that the majority of Daytona owners rarely use the pushers.

[Andad]

What did he say?

[Jdreg]

I don’t care

[WhiskyVerb]

Originally Posted by BristolCavendish

True. If a factory foreman was monitoring the production of an assembly worker who was turning out one widget every 7 seconds (500 on the tachymeter scale), he could safely assume that the same worker should be cranking out 500 of them every hour.

Umm.... errr..... do you math much?

That's kinda funny though.

[BristolCavendish]

Originally Posted by WhiskyVerb

Umm.... errr..... do you math much?

That's kinda funny though.

OK so 1 unit every 7 seconds/500 on the tachymeter scale comes out to 8.57 which over an hour amounts to 514 units per hour (projected).

Unless one is running a 'sweatshop' it shouldn't be that big of a deal. Had I used 20 seconds/180, perhaps the concept would have been easier to comprehend.