Am I the only one that's not into chronograph?

Mtek

I’ll get it back on track.

I think Bono may “dislike” a chrono.

jimmyd13

Whenever I wear a non-chrono watch, I feel a little sense of loss. It's only for one reason: to time my coffee.

Now, I appreciate that most of you will be totally confused by that statement. There are a few here who are as serious about coffee as they are about their watches and they will understand. For those who don't, the simple reason is that timing a shot of espresso is the simplest way to ensure that the extraction rates are good. With my machine, it should take at least 20 seconds, and no more than 30, for 60ml of water to run through a 19.8g puck of coffee. The ideal is 23 seconds. If you're outside the 20-30 second range, it goes straight down the sink and the grind level is changed - finer or coarser - depending on the time.

Again, I'm sure most will think that is incredibly anal (who measures 19.8g and not just 20?) but if you realise that the beans I'm currently using are a AA rated natural Ethiopian and cost £100 a kilo ... you might begin to understand. My roaster (yes, I have "a guy" who roasts the beans with utmost skill and care) only has one bag of these beans. When they're gone, they're gone. Even next year, there's no promise that the farm which grew these beans will be able to replicate the quality they hit this time around. I've not had coffee this good since the 2015 Wallenford Estate managed to hit one out of the park ... that was £15 per 100g.

Suddenly, wearing a chronograph seems the least of my addictions.

Edit to add: https://i.imgur.com/Bp20pzz.jpg https://i.imgur.com/EDalOmP.jpg https://i.imgur.com/qprpgVK.jpg

vbrad26

My current one has a pen and a flashlight in place of the toothpick and tweezers.

llvhhui

For some reason I just can't get into chronograph watches. None of them really interests me. I have no desire to own one either. Am I the only one here?

llvhhui

I don’t like sub dials either. I guess that explains why 3 sub dials is not my type.

llvhhui

I do love a simple dial with just a central second hand.

llvhhui

Wearing a chrono is like wearing a dash board on the wrist. Kinda weird to me.

WatchWalker

This topic seems to shift from Chronograph into Speedmaster (makes sense) into speed. I have been exposed to speed a lot, on two wheels, 4 wheels, on road and on track. Here's two shots I have on hand taken some public road action. Both taken in Germany during regular hours in non-restricted zones. Cannot reveal who took the pictures though... 😎

Dan S

kyle L

Never used to like them, now I own a couple...🤔

jimmyd13

Whenever I wear a non-chrono watch, I feel a little sense of loss. It's only for one reason: to time my coffee.

Now, I appreciate that most of you will be totally confused by that statement. There are a few here who are as serious about coffee as they are about their watches and they will understand. For those who don't, the simple reason is that timing a shot of espresso is the simplest way to ensure that the extraction rates are good. With my machine, it should take at least 20 seconds, and no more than 30, for 60ml of water to run through a 19.8g puck of coffee. The ideal is 23 seconds. If you're outside the 20-30 second range, it goes straight down the sink and the grind level is changed - finer or coarser - depending on the time.

Again, I'm sure most will think that is incredibly anal (who measures 19.8g and not just 20?) but if you realise that the beans I'm currently using are a AA rated natural Ethiopian and cost £100 a kilo ... you might begin to understand. My roaster (yes, I have "a guy" who roasts the beans with utmost skill and care) only has one bag of these beans. When they're gone, they're gone. Even next year, there's no promise that the farm which grew these beans will be able to replicate the quality they hit this time around. I've not had coffee this good since the 2015 Wallenford Estate managed to hit one out of the park ... that was £15 per 100g.

Suddenly, wearing a chronograph seems the least of my addictions.

Edit to add: https://i.imgur.com/Bp20pzz.jpg https://i.imgur.com/EDalOmP.jpg https://i.imgur.com/qprpgVK.jpg

U ulackfocus

I've owned a few chronographs, but they're certainly not the center of my watch universe. There's only one currently in my collection: a Breitling Chrono Cockpit. It was a gift from my wife.



👍

Unless you're an El Primero collector. That's a noble pursuit.

llvhhui

For some reason I just can't get into chronograph watches. None of them really interests me. I have no desire to own one either. Am I the only one here?

llvhhui

For some reason I just can't get into chronograph watches. None of them really interests me. I have no desire to own one either. Am I the only one here?

adi4

Do you use a refractometer to measure the extraction? If not, I think it's mostly subjective and varies quite a bit between roasts, beans, age of beans, how sleepy you are when you pull the shot... 😉

Personally, I don't have enough hand/eye coordination that early in tee morning to push the chrono button right when I hit the espresso shot button so I usually prefer a central seconds watch to time my shots. Also, the slightly "off" shots usually turn into Americanos for me and I pull another better shot for my wife's cappuccino.

What machine do you use to pull shots?

And to keep it somewhat on topic, I mostly prefer non-chronographs, but there are times when they're handy, like timing cooking and coffee roasting.

llvhhui

For some reason I just can't get into chronograph watches. None of them really interests me. I have no desire to own one either. Am I the only one here?