![]() All of which has led to subsequent lively debate as to who was truly first. Later on in the year, Zenith unveiled its in-series El Primero in October, having unveiled a prototype in January, while Seiko quietly released its version, the 6139, in May. March saw the prototype launch of then-Heuer, Breitling and Buren’s collaboration with movement maker Dubois-Depraz: the Chronomatic, or Calibre 11, with working models in August. ![]() Yet the single most important moment in the history of this complication was probably the introduction of the first automatic chronograph in 1969, when three dropped in the same year. Longines created one of the earliest wristwatches with the complication in 1913, while Breitling gets points for being the first to devise a separate pusher to operate the complication. However, in 2012, a fabled compteur de tierces or ‘thirds counter’ – made by Louis Moinet and written about in his 1848 watch bible Traité d’Horlogerie – was discovered and verified at a sale at Christie’s Geneva, effectively rewriting the history of the chronograph. Rieussec first used it to time horse races in Paris in 1812. The needle made a mark on the other discs when stopped to show the time elapsed. Rather than seconds hands and counters, it had two discs – one used the movement’s kinetic energy to move a small needle tipped with ink. The first-ever chronograph was originally thought to have been invented by French watchmaker Nicolas Rieussec. The fabled compteur de tierces, made by Louis Moinet
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