Sailing chronographs like the Heuer Autavia Skipper, the Regate (sold under three different brand names – Aquastar, Heuer, and Tissot), Heuer’s Yacht Timer (both wrist-mounted and stopwatch form factor), the Breitling Chronomat and SuperOcean (both in regatta timing trim), the Memosail (two are on eBay as we write this), Lemania’s self-branded Regatta Yacht Timer in handheld stopwatch format, and the wonderfully busy Wakmann. Rolex, Tutima, Alpinaīut the vintage timepieces – the regatta timers of old – are what really get our juices flowing. Current and recent pieces include those from Tutima, Alpina, Atlantic, Omega, Panerai, and IWC, as well as electronic offerings from TAG Heuer, Suunto, Tissot and others. Perhaps the most well-known yachting timer today is the Rolex YachtMaster, but there are others, past and present. Over the decades there have been numerous yacht timers and specialized chronographs produced by the world’s watch companies. He then has an on board measurement of progress to the start of the race, and can sail his yacht accordingly – hopefully to reach the starting line, at speed, just as the starting gun sounds. Horns signal the start of the countdown period and a skipper can start his yacht timer by the audible signal. So some sort of a count-down timer is useful to the pilot and tactician. If they do, they’re penalized quite heavily (how and how much depends on the rules in effect for the specific race). The trick for the skipper is to NOT cross the starting line before the starting gun goes off. As we just saw in the recent America’s Cup races in San Francisco, the yachts (we use the term loosely in the case of the America’s Cup boats) are already at speed as they approach the starting line.
As you can imagine, starting a race on water, with entrants powered by the wind, is not as easy as lining up on a grid, Formula 1 style, or lined up like sprinters at a track meet, waiting for the starting gun. Yacht timers – also referred to as regatta timers, yachting chronographs, or sailing watches – are watches specially designed and made for the countdown to the start of a sailing race.
WATCHES WITH COUNTDOWN TIMERS SERIES
This is part of a series on these unique timepieces. At worn&wound we’ve long been fascinated by watches that were designed specifically for individual sporting events.
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