Why run multiple stopwatches instead of one
A single stopwatch is fine until you are timing two things. The bread is proving, the call with a client is billable, and you promised yourself a 25-minute focus block. A phone app makes you flip between screens. Simple Beautiful Stopwatch lets you keep multiple stopwatches open on the desktop at once, each as a separate card you can place wherever you like.
Every card carries its own name of up to 15 characters, so the one in the corner says Proofing and the one by your editor says Client call. Start and stop them independently, mark laps on any of them, and drag a corner to make the one that matters right now larger.
The design is part of the point. Digits glow while a card runs and turn a warm tone while it is stopped, and a thin bar under the time fills once a minute, so you can tell at a glance from across the room which timers are live.
A floating stopwatch that stays above your other windows
Right-click any card to open its menu. Pin on top keeps that stopwatch in front of every other window, which is handy when you are timing work in a full-size app. The same menu offers Hide milliseconds, Duplicate, New stopwatch and Close.
Cards are independent windows, so you can pin one and leave the rest behind your work. The tray icon lists every stopwatch with its current time, and choosing one brings that card forward.
Stopwatch with laps and a history you can export
While a card is running, press L on it, or the global Lap key from any app, to mark a split. When you reset, the run is filed in History under the stopwatch's name with all its laps, and the fastest and slowest laps of the run are flagged.
From History you can open a session, copy it, rename it or delete it. Export CSV writes the record to a file one lap per row, ready for a spreadsheet, which makes it useful for logging practice sessions or tracking how long recurring jobs really take.
Keyboard shortcuts and chimes for a desktop stopwatch
On a focused card, Space starts and stops, L laps and R resets. Turn on Use shortcuts in other apps in Settings and F8, F9 and Ctrl+F8 control the stopwatch you used last without switching windows. Each of those keys can be changed.
Chimes help when you are not watching. Chime every can be set to 1, 5, 10, 15, 25 or 30 minutes, or 1 hour, and Tell me at fires once at a time you type, such as 45:00. Each chime arrives as a notification naming its stopwatch, and Play a sound decides whether it is audible.
