Chronometers are the same watches - only made carefully, with all the precautions indicated by science. Currently, the devices are brought to the highest degree of perfection.

In the history of the world of watch making art occupies a special place the creation of marine chronometer - the device that keeps the exact time needed to determine longitude at sea. Several generations of inventors have designed and perfected the chronometric device indispensable to navigators. The task was so important that its solution were connected not only scientists but also the states' heads. Before the beginning of XVIII century, the "longitude problem" many considered quite intractable and put it on a par with the most complicated mathematical problems, such as squaring the circle or Fermat's last theorem.

Meanwhile, Santa Cruz suggested a very simple way to solve this problem in 1510; he called it the "method of watch transportation". Nearly three centuries the best human minds worked over creation and then over improvement of replica watches for mariners. At that time they incidentally designed many watches, clocks and other equipment for other purposes such as domestic use. If there were no main purpose to develop a watch able to determine the longitude of the area, the horology would have remained at a fairly low level for a long time.

Since old times many Swiss brands have developed their special chronometer watches, like IWC Ingenieur. Their replicas are highly available and let the owners to enjoy its special automatic chronographs and automatic winding mechanisms.

A chronometer is essentially an extremely accurate timepiece. It can be either a clock or a watch - early mechanical chronometers were mainly clocks, those produced today are usually watches aimed at enthusiasts.

The requirement for an extremely accurate chronometer arose from the navigational needs of ships at sea and is closely linked with the issue of longitude. Accurate navigation was almost impossible without accurate timekeeping, and the first effective chronometer was John Harrison's H4 pocket watch.

Because of this association with navigation, many people think of mechanical chronometers as shipboard devices and the term "maritime chronometer" is well known. However as technology improved it became possible to design and build wristwatches to the same degree of accuracy.