zOwie Omega Discussion Forum

: Hello, I just got a 2000 Omega Speedmaster
: model 3523.80 today and I would love to know
: how I suppose to get the big second hand to
: move. I know how to get the small one moving
: but what about the true second hand. Its
: sitting right there at 12:00 and thats it,
: Thanks

The big second hand is called the chronograph seconds. Normally, it just sits there at 12:00. The subdial (small second hand that moves) which you refered to in your post is the real seconds.

Now, in order to get the chronograph (big) second hand to move, you must push in one of the pushers (I think it's the 2:00 (uppermost) one. This initiates the chronograph function on the watch. The chronograph seconds will start to sweep the dial......

Now, you may ask.... What is a chronograph? Well, a chronograph is essentially a timer (or stopwatch). Whenever you start the chronograph, you may stop it by pushing in the same button used to start it (just like a stop watch, there's a start/stop button). The other button is the reset, it just resets all of the chronograph hands to zero.

Everyone probably has seen a stopwatch before, but the speedmaster you have is an analog version of the more familiar digital timers out there. Since it doesn't have a LCD display, it has to use six hands (one for seconds, minutes and hours) to display the chronograph and separate hands-one for seconds, minutes, hours-for the time.

Chronograph manufacturers use the largest hand possible for the chronograph because it allows for more precise readings (the diameter is much larger, and therefore is easier to read and has more graduations than the smaller subdials). If they used the small seconds, imagine timing an event and trying to figure out if the event lasted 5 seconds or 6 seconds on the small dial! It would be impossible.

Oh, and by the way, congrats on a fine timepiece!