Abstract vintage chronograph question

[Talbot]

All,

Apols if this is a fairly abstract question but this has been puzzling me for some time. I'm impressed with the knowledge here so I thought I'd give it a shot.

Why do vintage chronograph's have a marking on the minutes dial at multiples of 3 mins?

Many old chronographs have this (not all) but I have never seen this on a modern unit.

This must have something to do with navigation technique. This is not covered in the Brietling manual. What is it for, and how is it used?

 

[rmrdaddy]

This looks to be the likely reason:

"...The chronograph elapsed time subdial at 3 had special markings for 3, 6 and 9 minutes" ...."The 3,6 and 9 markings on the elapsed time subdial were equally useful. Since these measured 5%, 10% and 15% of a hour, time-motion studies were possible."

From an unrelated (read Non Breitling) article here:
http://www.timezone.com/library/archives/archives0005
But dealing with the same topic.

 

[Talbot]

Wow!

Well there you go. This has been bugging me for ages.

Thanks for the great link. I considered this as a non Brietling question as lots of early chrono's have these chapter marks.

I would have sworn it was a navigating thing like the 1 in 60 rule or something. Interesting that modern units do not have these marks, perhaps time and motion studies are out of style these days. Also explains why its not in the pilots manual.

Armed with this knowledge, I can now do my own time and motion study: 5% mark finish Martini, 10% mark finish Fog Cutter, 15% mark finish Shrunken Skull, 20% mark, er, we'll work out the rest later.

Thanks

Talbot

 

[rmrdaddy]

LOL
25% mark, fall on floor...
30% mark, (hic)....

lol


Oh, and BTW,
That's a hell of a watch. What's the vintage on it?

 

[Fletch]

Where can I get an abstract vintage chronograph?

 

[dhermann1]

Hello Dali!

 

[Talbot]

LOL
25% mark, fall on floor...
30% mark, (hic)....

lol


Oh, and BTW,
That's a hell of a watch. What's the vintage on it?

The AOPA Navitimer dates from around 1954, but I'm not sure of how long the production run went for so I can't date this watch accurately. Someone here may be able to enlighten me further.

The Navitimer can be a bit chunky sometimes. Hard to wear under an A-2. My all time favourite Chrono would be a 1940's Universal Geneve Aero Compax.