Watch Words This Week: Flyback Chronograph

Ordinary chronographs need to be stopped before they can be reset to zero. Flyback chronographs, on the other hand, can be instantaneously reset and restarted with one button.

This allows for the accurate tracking of elapsed times of a sequence of events with no time lost in between, like the laps of a race, which explains why it is included in the automobile racing-themed Richard Mille RM 11 chronograph. The function was often found in vintage pilot’s chronographs, being useful when, for example, switching to a second fuel tank without leaving room for error in recording the flying time remaining.