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The Encyclopedia of Horology

Pocket watches · Complication

Split-Seconds (Rattrapante) Pocket Watches

Needs research

Chronograph watches with two superimposed elapsed-time hands that can be stopped independently, allowing intermediate ('split') times to be read while the timing continues.

Mechanism

A clamp can grip the split hand's wheel, halting it for a reading while the main chronograph hand continues; releasing the clamp allows the split hand to fly back and rejoin the main hand.

Typical characteristics

  • Two coaxial chronograph seconds hands
  • Additional pusher to split and rejoin the hands
  • A split-seconds clamp mechanism acting on the secondary hand's heart cam

Identification characteristics

  • Two fine seconds hands sharing a common pivot
  • Extra pusher, usually in the pendant crown

Collector significance

One of the more mechanically demanding chronograph variants, valued for its complexity and rarity.

Known variations

  • Rattrapante chronograph
  • Double rattrapante (rare)

Related photographs

Pocket Chronograph (48709445542)
Pocket Chronograph (48709445542) — Auckland Museum Collections from Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand, CC BY 2.0. Wikimedia Commons file page
Pocket Chronograph (48708940993)
Pocket Chronograph (48708940993) — Auckland Museum Collections from Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand, CC BY 2.0. Wikimedia Commons file page
Pocket Chronograph (48709439862)
Pocket Chronograph (48709439862) — Auckland Museum Collections from Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand, CC BY 2.0. Wikimedia Commons file page

No confidently matched photograph of this subject has been found yet. These photographs show a closely related record, and are not examples of the type described on this page.

Sources & references

  1. General horological surveys; detailed early production history requires further sourcing.

Where sources disagree, the disagreement is stated rather than resolved silently.