The dress watch is perhaps the hardest watch to master. It has to be simple, it has to be manual wind, it has to have no complications—small seconds at a push—and it has to be small, both in diameter, but more importantly, thickness. This leaves very little for a watchmaker to hide behind, only the quality of the watchmaking itself left to do the talking. How do the very best brands in the world do it?

Being the best known and most popular luxury watch brand in the world, Rolex watches have little trouble selling themselves. Many, many people are quite happy to buy one just because it says ‘Rolex’ on it, paying little mind to what that name really stands for. Well, before you buy a Rolex, here are three things you should know.

Ever since it was discovered that combining iron, chromium and carbon made a material that could be used to make almost anything, stainless steel has been king of construction. It’s strong, it’s malleable, its hardy—and that’s why it’s also used for making watches. What more could you ask than that? Well, apparently you can get watches made of other, more exotic materials as well. But why?

Doppelchronograph, rattrapante, split-second—you’ve probably heard of one if not all of these terms, and maybe you even know that they all mean the same thing. But what exactly is a split-second chronograph, and how on Earth do they work?