Patek Philippe

Let's all pretend for a minute that Bill Gates needed a split second chronograph to time different legs of his daughter's horse races... If he's using the 5204 every day, will the mechanisms actually last 3-5 years or are all these complications just a no... 

.. nobody actually uses double split or rarttrapante for daily use... So, I can't answer. Maybe Patek itself is the best position to answer that? I am sure 5204s come out after very rigorous durability tests..... Sorry for not being too helpful... I wish ... 

experience one of my clients had with his 3970 and maybe that will give some insight. He wore the watch with the chrono running constantly because he preferred to see the centered sweep moving like in his other non-chrono watches, then the watch stopped. ... 

If Bill uses his split second chrono everyday for half an hour there will be no problem in the next 3 to 5 years. But if he lets it run the whole day it will eventually stop, and you might will have a problem. You have to look at it this way Patek is made... 

24/7 and not at all over long periods like a month, a year ... . So, I don´t see any problem. If Bill likes to track his own "Military Horse Racing" (if at all he is doing something like this) I could imagine difficulties :-) Oliver

There are split second chronos from the 1920s still working fine with regular servicing. The mechanisms do not wear out after a few years, But here is the deal. The more expensive chronographs have vertical column wheel mechanisms which are aesthetically ...