Watch guys: When would you actually use a tachmeter?

[Dobermann]

For all of you watch guys: when would you actually use a tachymeter?

And let's get it out of the way up front: yes, what prompted the question is that I have the option to buy a watch at a good price, which happens to have a tachymeter. No, not looking for "purchase confirmation", but genuinely interested in their use.

I've read up on how tachymeters are used, and I'm not sure that I'd ever be in a position with a known start and finish point for a set distance to measure speed.

I'm also pretty sure that if I was able to travel at a consistent rate of speed in a car, then I'd know how far I've travelled. If I'm in my own car, I figure it's going to have a speedometer and an odometer.

Timing cars racing around a track isn't a functional use for me. The best I've read online is of people checking their speedometers if they think they're broken, or perhaps got new tires.

Is there any functional use for a tachymeter? I've seen military imagery/iconography used in ads to sell watches with them - is there a functional use in military contexts?

Sure, cellphones are used as arguments against all kinds of "old tech" and we don't need to point that out here (I still like slide rules, and can usually turn to a page in a diary faster than colleagues can look up electronic calendars). I'm even interested in what might have been genuine late 1800s/early 1900s use for a tachy that could apply now - or some kind of future grid-down/TEOTWAWKI/Red Dawn/Terminator scenario uses, figuring this would be a timepiece I'd hand down to my son.

So ... what functional use does a tachymeter have? Have you ever used one, and for what? What can you imagine using one for?

 

[nikonNUT]

I honestly think its a cool factor and it is a "cool" factor but in the days of phone stop watches and GPS based speed over ground apps it's a feature. Could it have a use? Absolutely! If you are tech-less it could be handy. If you the like the watch the tachymeter should not be a deal breaker whether you need it or not. I have a rotating bezel on my dive watches. Do regret it being there or regret getting the watch because I never use it? Not all at. It's a feature, a feature that I rarely use.

 

[Dobermann]

I honestly think its a cool factor and it is a "cool" factor but in the days of phone stop watches and GPS based speed over ground apps it's a feature. Could it have a use? Absolutely! If you are tech-less it could be handy. If you the like the watch the tachymeter should not be a deal breaker whether you need it or not. I have a rotating bezel on my dive watches. Do regret it being there or regret getting the watch because I never use it? Not all at. It's a feature, a feature that I rarely use.

Thanks, copy all that - but what uses do you actually see for it if you were tech-less?

Actual use cases / actual problems to solve or things to know. Actual application.

That's what I'm wanting to hear ideas on.

 

[roostercogburn98]

Maybe a backup style device in a submarine? Not sure how much gps they get deep down.