London-based Swiss watchmaker patents the first practical chronograph

Adophe Nicole, a Swiss-born watchmaker now with a workshop in Soho Square in London, had in 1844 taken out a patent on a clock that could be stopped and restarted.  His1862 British patent was an improvement on this to the point that his chronograph, which could be stopped, restarted, and reset, immediately made it possible to record elapsed time with great accuracy, the advent of the modern stopwatch.  (By John Osborne)