As technology continues to expand, more and more watch manufacturers are incorporating a great range of features and functions into their watches that do more than just tell you the time!
We’re used to seeing traditional watches with maybe a date display added, but what about watches with additional features like altimeter, chronograph, tachymeter, compass, world time and so on. What exactly are these features, do you understand what they do, and would you use them?
Confused?! We’re going to take a look at some of the top most common features found on wrist-watches and explain their functions in simple terms. You’ll find they’re not as confusing as they look and some of these functions are actually useful features to have!
A watch with an altimeter is great for outdoor enthusiasts such as hikers and climbers, as it measures altitude, with some watches showing your current elevation or how much you’ve ascended or descended for example.
A watch with an altimeter function will typically also have other useful features for outdoor activities such as a compass or barometer.
Barometer
A watch with a built-in barometer can help you to predict changing weather conditions, so is ideal for planning ahead with outdoor activities. Some watches can sense a drop in air pressure and can notify you of approaching storms for example.
Combined Automatic Alti/Baro
Some watches feature an automatic alti/baro function which switches between altimeter and barometer based on movement, i.e. shows altimeter when you’re moving or barometer when still.
Compass
A watch with a built-in compass is also useful for outdoor enthusiasts, particularly hikers, enabling you to keep track of your direction.
The built-in compass is typically found on a watch’s bezel or rim.
GPS & GPS Tracking
GPS stands for Global Positioning System. GPS in watches uses a satellite navigation system to provide you with accurate time and location information. You can use GPS to find out where you are and to navigate to where you want to go. Some sports people use GPS Tracking to analyse their training performance.
A chronograph watch is a dual purpose watch with independent actions for keeping the time and measuring intervals of time (i.e. stopwatch/timer).
A chronograph watch typically displays sub-dials on the main watch face and is used as a stopwatch or timer without interfering with the main dial so the watch’s timekeeping is not affected.
A chronograph watch will typically have extra buttons on the side of the watch-case to operate the stopwatch/timer. Typical chronograph sub-dials can be for seconds, minutes or hours.
Some chronograph watches will utilize a display-counter type stopwatch/timer instead of the more common sub-dials.
Tachymeter
A tachymeter is typically found on the bezel or outer rim of a watch and is a scale that is used to measure average speed/distance travelled, i.e. a tachymeter can be used to compute a speed based on travel time or a distance based on speed.
A watch with dual-time basically allows you to keep track of the time in 2 different time zones, so for example you can display your local time and the time in a different country. This is a great feature to have if you travel frequently or have friends or family in a different time zone to you.
World Time
A watch with World Time function enables you to see the time in multiple time zones (typically major cities of the world time zones). Again, this feature is ideal for travellers or people with friends or family in different time zones. No more calling somebody in the middle of the night!!
GMT
GMT stands for Greenwich Mean Time – mean solar time at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London. A watch with the GMT function allows you to keep track of your local time and the GMT time.
Perpetual Calendar
Many watches come with a date function but traditionally you have to manually change the date to adjust for different days in the month.
A watch with a Perpetual Calendar will take into account the different amount of days in a month and leap years, so it will always display the correct date (typically for 100 years) without you having to adjust it.
*Prices/discounts/shipping indicated correct at time of writing/publishing and may be subject to change anytime. E&OE.
Related articles:
Click here to go back to homepage
No comments:
Post a Comment