Rattrapante

A type of chronograph that has two seconds hands and, unlike a standard chronograph, can thereby time multiple simultaneous events, such as runners running a race. It can also time a series of events, such as the laps a single runner makes in a race. One of the hands, the so-called “rattrapante” hand, sits either directly on top of or underneath the main chronograph hand. The rattrapante hand is started and returned to zero simultaneously with the main chronograph hand. A special push-piece and an additional mechanism make it possible for the rattrapante hand to be repeatedly stopped (so that split times can be read) and then instantly brought into renewed synchrony with the main chronograph hand by flying back to catch up with it. (“Rattrapanter” is French for “to catch again” or “to take again.”) All this occurs without affecting the motion of the main chronograph hand. A rattrapante is also called a “split-seconds chronograph” or a flyback chronograph, although the latter can also refer to a type of single-seconds-hand chronograph.

Ederhard Rattrapente watch

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