Timing complication
What is a split-seconds chronograph?
A chronograph with two stacked seconds hands that can be split apart to time an intermediate result, then caught up again.
How it works
A split-seconds chronograph has two central seconds hands running on top of each other. A third pusher stops one hand to record a lap or a second competitor while the other keeps running. Press it again and the stopped hand jumps forward to catch up.
The French name, rattrapante, comes from rattraper, to catch up. The mechanism is one of the hardest chronographs to make, which is why few brands offer one.
History
Split-seconds timers date from 19th-century pocket watches used at racetracks. In wristwatches they've been the domain of high watchmaking: Patek Philippe, A. Lange & Söhne's Double Split, which adds a split minute counter, and IWC's Doppelchronograph, which made the complication more affordable in 1992.
Before you buy
Expect five-figure prices for most mechanical rattrapantes; quartz split-time chronographs offer the function for very little.
Questions
- What is a rattrapante?
- The French term for a split-seconds chronograph: one with two seconds hands that can be stopped separately to time intermediate results.