Be honest.
When did you last use your Rolex Daytona to time a racing lap?
Or your GMT-Master II to keep track of two time zones while crossing the Atlantic?
And if your watch has a helium escape valve… when exactly was your last spell in a diving bell?
Luxury watches are packed with clever features that many of us will never actually need.
So, what do all those extra hands, numbers, buttons and bezels really do?
Let's find out.
The Chronograph
What it does: It's basically a stopwatch built into your watch.
Those pushers on the side of a chronograph aren't just there to look impressive. One starts and stops the timer, while another resets it.
Depending on the watch, the smaller dials – known as subdials – can record seconds, minutes and hours.
The Rolex Cosmograph Daytona is probably one of the most famous examples. Rolex describes it as a timing tool originally designed for endurance racing drivers, allowing them to measure elapsed time accurately.
What it was made for: Timing things accurately – particularly useful in motorsport.
What you probably use it for: Occasionally pressing the buttons because it's satisfying.
And perhaps timing the pasta.
To be fair, mechanical chronographs are wonderfully clever things. Even if you're never going anywhere near a racetrack, there's something rather lovely about having a miniature mechanical stopwatch sitting on your wrist.
The Tachymeter
This is where it gets even better.
Have you ever looked at the numbers running around the bezel of a Daytona and wondered what on earth they mean?
That's the tachymeter.
Used together with the chronograph, it can calculate average speed over a known distance.
For example, start the chronograph as you pass the beginning of a measured mile and stop it when you reach the end. The chronograph seconds hand points to your average speed on the tachymeter scale.
Rolex says the Daytona's scale can measure average speeds of up to 400 miles or kilometres per hour.
What it was made for: Calculating average speed.
What you probably use it for: Nothing. Just keep it looking extremely good around the edge of your Daytona.
We're guessing relatively few Daytona owners have ever shouted:
"Quick! I need to calculate our average speed!"
But it's nice to know you could.
The GMT Hand
Now here's one you might actually use.
A GMT watch has an additional hand which travels around the dial once every 24 hours. Used with the 24-hour scale on the bezel, it lets you read the time in another time zone.
The Rolex GMT-Master was developed during the great expansion of international air travel, allowing travellers to keep track of time at home while knowing the local time wherever they happened to be.
The modern GMT-Master II still does exactly that. Its normal hour hand can be adjusted independently for local time while the arrow-tipped 24-hour hand keeps track of your reference time.
What it was made for: Pilots and international travellers.
What you might use it for: Holidays, business trips or keeping track of the time where family or colleagues live.
What you may actually do: Leave it permanently set to UK time because you've forgotten how to change it.
Still, of all the functions on this list, GMT is arguably one of the genuinely useful ones.
The Rotating Dive Bezel
Those numbers around a dive watch bezel aren't just decoration either.
Before jumping into the water, a diver can rotate the bezel so its marker lines up with the minute hand.
As the minute hand moves, the bezel provides an immediate indication of how much time has passed underwater.
Importantly, a traditional dive bezel rotates in one direction only.
There's a very sensible reason for this. If it gets accidentally knocked underwater, it can only indicate that more time has elapsed, rather than less. In other words, the mistake errs on the safer side.
What it was made for: Keeping track of dive time.
What you probably use it for: Fiddling with it. A satisfying click. We understand.
The Helium Escape Valve
And now we reach perhaps the winner of:
“Feature you are least likely ever to need.”
You'll find helium escape valves on serious dive watches, including certain Omega Seamaster models.
Despite the name, it isn't there to let water out of your watch.
It's designed for saturation diving.
Professional saturation divers can spend long periods living in pressurised environments containing helium. Because helium atoms are extremely small, they can gradually work their way inside a watch.
When the diver returns to normal atmospheric pressure, the trapped gas needs somewhere to go. If it can't escape quickly enough, the pressure inside the watch can cause damage.
The helium escape valve allows that built-up gas to leave safely.
What it was made for: Professional saturation diving.
What you probably use it for: Absolutely nothing.
Unless, of course, you're reading this from a saturation diving chamber.
In which case, we take it all back.
