Sorry, but the jury is in regarding both chronographs and watches in general. Nobody uses chronos for track meets anymore and when was the last time you heard of a time and motion study being done(since about 1960)and try finding someone under about 40 years old wearing a watch all the time (they all have a cell phone that tells time and does everything else too). I've given my son a couple of nice watches hoping he'd wear them and he has put them in a "safe place" which I read as anywhere but on his wrist. Watches are basically jewelry and complicated watches are basically expensive jewelry. But, I love my Breitling and the rest of the wrist and pocket watches in my collection. And, my son will get them all to do with as he likes.

That may be so for your part of the world, but over here watches are still big business. There is still lots of TV advertising, newspaper and magazines too. Most people still wear them, especially chronograph and multi-date "complications".
Granted that most are quartz, but all you have to do is look in the big jewelers windows, even in the cities and you will see watches prominently displayed, and most prominent are the mechanicals.
Manufacturers are sponsoring top sports like Formula 1, athletics, soccer, golf, etc. They can't do that if people aren't buying their product in droves.
My sixteen year old son loves the three watches I gave him, and wears one every day for school. His friends wear them too, as I noticed when picking him up from school.
I see new films like The Aviator where Leonardo DiCaprio is wearing a Jaeger leCoultre Reverso, or the remake of Miami Vice where everyone wore beautiful watches (mainly IWCs!). I see people everywhere wearing watches, they are almost as popular as ever.
A watch is as much a fashion statement as it is a tool, it always has been, and always will.
The wristwatch needed the first world war to make it popular, and it was a necessary item. Pilots today wear a chronograph, I know they have lots of instrumentation, computers and so on, so why wear a chrono? I think it is the "belt and braces" thing, and if a pilot comes down, he has his modern chronograph with him, not only is it a tool, I think it is a psychological lift, as he still has some piece of technology to help him (or her).
Regarding the statement about the watch being "basically jewelry", the manufacturers spent a lot of time and money having watches moved from the 'luxury market' to being a necessity, as this 1930 snippet from an after-dinner speech by HH Taub, a Bulova employee, attests.

I have to agree with Robert as I see more and more people wear wrist watches.
Also its easire to check time on watch then is on cell phone.

Agreed Peter.
Using a mobile phone is a laborious task, you have to haul it out of your pocket, open it, check the time, close it, put it away again....

That seems like regression back to the pocket watch! :-)

Agreed and the same thing being witnessed over here in Tennessee as well.....and back to topic, every one I've seen worn have been a chronograph.

They're getting to be popular again as graduation gifts too, and being used.

Kids love technology, but they're also getting into overload with all that's being thrown at them and are wanting simpler answers to common needs....like telling time. A watch answers that need, and those I know over here are grabbing them. It's one less thing they're having to demand of their Smart Phones.

As a side note, we are just finishing finals week at the University I work at. Almost every student that sat in my rooms taking exams had a wrist watch chronograph sitting on their desk in front of them with their counters running as their exam was going on to keep track of the test run time. All these students are in their early to mid 20's and graduate students. Many are already working professionals getting their masters degree. Where cell phones are banned in test environments, chronographs are not.

I see a lot of NICE chronos being worn by those who have good jobs too, all young engineers at the local base.

Regards! Mark

you just push me over the fence Mark my next project will be my own chronograph(like I do not have enough chronos as is) VAL/ETA7750 25 jewels automatic movement with day date and 3 registers.

Very good, Peter! Be sure to show us photos when you're done!

Regards! Mark

How many times have you wanted to throw your smartphone into a wood chipper or under the wheels of a speeding cement mixer? You would never do that to a good Swiss watch, even if it was acting up.

William

Again, lol, my son can check the time on his cell phone easily as fast I can look at my watch. It says more about "our" generations comfort and facility with technology than anything else. And, by the way, I own a low tech cell that resides in my car for emergencies only. Every comment about high priced watches, presents of watches, etc. confirms them a jewelry. And, I don't even recognize quartz watches as watches. It has to be mechanical for me to care one whit about it as a watch.

I GAVE MY "DROID" SMART PHONE TO MY WIFE
and went back to my simple Razr v9 flip
I rarely use it except when I see something for sale now and then when I'm out and about.

At 60, I feel no pressing need to do anything that fast anymore. I have a computer for that.
I'm wearing my Harvard today. A simple chrono from a simpler time.

Tom,

You obviously are from a simpler time because that looks like a piece of old newsprint. Do you wear it on your wrist with scotch tape or a rubber band? That's a Harvard Veri-thin!


And to Michael,

With all due respect to you and your son, I don't doubt that the newer cell-phones are excellent timers and timekeepers but unfortunately, they often perform very poorly when called upon to accomplish the fundamental task of actual 2-way voice communications! ...and no mechanical chronograph ....that I know of... comes with an annual contract or early termination fee.

I also carry a basic flip-phone for emergencies because you never know ... if I all of a sudden I was stricken with an acute medical condition that caused me to become an anchor in the flow of SF/Oakland bay bridge traffic on my way to work one fine, sunny Thursday afternoon, at least I'll be able to record, to the second, my moment of death if the 911 call doesn't go through!

I wear my 3570.50 Speedmaster every day. It's a beautiful watch. It was given to me by my wife Marisa and our friends on my 50th birthday. I wind it dutifully when I first wake. It gains about 6 seconds a week. I almost always forget to charge my phone.

William

Quartz=jewelry.
Mechanical=miniature works of art.

You wouldn't call an automaton jewelry, would you? :-D

quartz=junk
mechanical watches=jewelry
automaton (?)=not sure what is meant by automaton but it sounds like something that sits on a woman's dresser and spins around while music plays.

This solid silver beauty dates to the 18th. C. and doesn't exactly 'spin around'.
Automaton, not for a womans dresser.

Michael,

If one wishes to learn about the history of automatons, the name Jaquet Droz comes to mind. This tells the whole story: HERE

By the way, watches are not jewelry; jewelry is jewelry and watches are watches...I'm pretty sure of this.

Enjoy!

William

William;

I actually pin the newsprint to my ball cap. Wear it that way. It times out good 2 times a day...LOL

Here's the real watch. A Gallet Multichron with a Venus movement made for Imperial. Gallet made this same watch for several marques including Rolex back in the 30s-early 40s.

Robert, I bet that swan automaton would look good on your wrist. Not on mine, but who's to judge, eh?

No Michael, I think the swan is a little too large for my wrist, as it is actually life size.
Maybe if it was a little smaller, and had a chronograph set into it somehow...
At least you know what automata are now, eh? Beautiful showpieces of the watch and clockmakers' skills.

Tom, the Harvard is an absolute joy. Please tell me when you get tired of it!

Robert, if you had just said it is a windup toy for the wealthy I would have known immediately what an automaton is. There were also "dirty" wristwatches and pocket watches that had automatonic characters - also the pinnacle of the watchmaker's 'art' ?

"wind-up".
Yes, quite.

In reply to the original q, 'cos it look good...

My Seiko 6138 doing what it does best.

Regards

Peter in Oz

Black and yellow that is so cool
nice Seiko.
and here is my eye candy