====== Rattrapante chronograph ======
{{wst>image_cl|Zenith|Grande Class Rattrapante Grande Date|**Rattrapante chronograph**\\ [[Zenith Grande Class Rattrapante Grande Date|Zenith Grande Class]]\\ with [[big date]]|230px}}

A **rattrapante** [[chronograph]] has two chronograph seconds hands which can be stopped independently.

===== Overview =====
Also called **split-seconds chronograph** or **Doppelchronograph**, a rattrapante has two seconds hands for the chronograph function that move together. The extra hand can be stopped independently by pressing a button in order to measure lap times. After another push of a button it will bounce back under the chronograph hand to continue in conjunction with it. In this way, the measurement of other intermediate times becomes possible. This is the origin of the word "rattrapante", which is based on the French verb "rattraper," meaning "catch again".

Rattrapante chronographs are regarded as particularly valuable because of the demanding [[complication]]; certain historical models are coveted by collectors and connoisseurs. For example a rattrapante wristwatch by [[Patek Philippe]], produced in [[1922]], was auctioned at Antiquorium on 14 November [[1999]] for US$ 1,918,387. At that time this was the highest price ever reached for a wrist watch in an auction.

Unlike the rattrapante or split-seconds chronograph the **[[flyback]]** or **mono rattrapante** uses just one hand for lap timing. Conversely, the **[[double rattrapante]]** has split minutes and seconds hands for timing longer than 60 seconds.

===== History =====
The doppelchronograph was invented in [[1831]] by Joseph-Thaddeus Winnerl, who added a heart-shaped cam to his improved version in [[1838]]. In [[1923]], [[Patek Philippe]] produced the first wristwatch chronograph rattrapante, and the company still specializes in this complication.

[[Blancpain]] and their sister movement producer [[Frédéric Piguet]] are credited with bringing back the split-seconds chronograph as a fashionable complication. Their [[1988]] [[FP 1181]] and [[FP 1186]] movements were part of the "six masterpieces" concept championed by [[Jean-Claude Biver]] for [[Blancpain]]. These were later offered to other companies after the acquisition of both companies by [[SMH]] in [[1992]].

In [[1991]], [[IWC]] introduced the first mass-market doppelchronograph. Their [[IWC Double Chronograph]] used a [[Valjoux 7750]] base with added complications designed by [[Richard Habring]]. This lasted in production for many years and the design has proliferated after the IWC patent expired in [[2012]]. [[Chronoswiss]] and [[Ulysse Nardin]] also built split-seconds chronographs on the 7750 base in [[1992]].

[[A. Lange & Söhne]] was the first to produce a watch with split minutes and seconds hands. Their [[2004]] [[A. Lange & Söhne Double Split|Double Split]] Cal. [[L001.1]] remains an unusual and desired complication.

===== Triple Chronograph =====

{{wst>image_cr|A. Lange & Söhne|Saxonia Triple Split blau|A. Lange & Söhne Saxonia Triple Split, the world's first **Triple Chronograph**}}

[[2018]], [[A. Lange & Söhne]] presented the [[A. Lange & Söhne|Saxonia Triple Split]] as a world first, a [[rattrapante chronograph]] with timekeeping of up to 12 hours. 

===== See Also =====
  * {{tagpage>Rattrapante_chronograph_movements|Rattrapante chronograph movements}}
  * [[Double rattrapante]]
  * [[Flyback]]

===== Literature =====
  *[[Das große Uhrenlexikon]]. Author [[Fritz von Osterhausen]]; ISBN 3898804305
  *[[Chronographen, Armbanduhren]]. Authors [[Lang, Gerd-Rüdiger|Gerd-R. Lang]], [[Reinhard Meis]]; ISBN 3766710117

===== Weblinks =====
  *[[http://www.ikada.de/alles-ueber-rattrapante.html|Ikada: Alles über Rattrapante]] (German)


{{tag>Terms Rattrapante_chronograph_movements}}