Double chronograph is a

watch A watch is a portable timepiece intended to be carried or worn by a person. It is designed to keep a consistent movement despite the motions caused by the person's activities. A wristwatch is designed to be worn around the wrist, attached ...

that includes two distinct

stopwatch A stopwatch is a timepiece designed to measure the amount of time that elapses between its activation and deactivation. A large digital version of a stopwatch designed for viewing at a distance, as in a sports stadium, is called a stop clock. ...

mechanisms in order to measure two separate events concurrently and/or comparatively. It is often confused with the flyback chronograph.

Other names

* Rattrapante chronograph (french: rattraper - the act of recovering, recapturing) * Split-second chronograph * Split chronograph

Functioning

A watch with a double

chronograph A chronograph is a specific type of watch that is used as a stopwatch combined with a display watch. A basic chronograph has an independent sweep second hand and a minute sub-dial; it can be started, stopped, and returned to zero by successiv ...

has two seconds hands. One hand is superimposed over the other. While one hand moves continuously, the other one can be either stopped, started or reset to zero. The first push releases both hands. While one continues registering the time, the other hand can be repeatedly stopped. In order to stop and bring both hands to zero a watch has a return pusher. The position of the pusher, controlling the split-seconds function is usually at either 10 or 8 o'clock.

Brief history

The double chronograph was previously called Fly-back second, but nowadays 'Fly-back second' relates to a chronograph where the timer resets instantaneously without the need to be stopped beforehand, and is to be distinguished from the double chronograph. It was invented in the 19th century by

Adolphe Nicole ''Adolphe'' is a classic French novel by Benjamin Constant, first published in 1816. It tells the story of an alienated young man, Adolphe, who falls in love with an older woman, Ellénore, the Polish mistress of the Comte de P***. Their illicit ...

. During the 1930s, due to a smaller size the mechanism was able to fit the case of a

wristwatch A watch is a portable timepiece intended to be carried or worn by a person. It is designed to keep a consistent movement despite the motions caused by the person's activities. A wristwatch is designed to be worn around the wrist, attached ...

. In 1923

Patek Philippe Patek Philippe SA is a Swiss luxury watch and clock manufacturer, located in the Canton of Geneva and the Vallée de Joux. Established in 1839, it is named after two of its founders, Antoni Patek and Adrien Philippe. Since 1932, the company ...

launched into the market its first double chronograph.http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2014/important-watches-n09159/lot.175.html Today double chronographs (or rattrapante chronographs) can be divided into two subgroups. One comprises chronographs based on in-house movements of different

watchmaking A watchmaker is an artisan who makes and repairs watches. Since a majority of watches are now factory-made, most modern watchmakers only repair watches. However, originally they were master craftsmen who built watches, including all their par ...

companies and the other group contains timepieces based on movements like the

Valjoux Valjoux (for ''Vallée de Joux'', "Joux Valley") is a Swiss manufacturer of mechanical watch movements. It is known primarily for chronograph ébauche movements that are used in a number of mid- to high-range mechanical watches. The company is a ...

7750 from ETA. The group of the in-house movements began with the Venus series of calibers: 179, 185, 189 and 190. These calibers had a rattrapante pusher on the crown but since 1952 they are no longer in production. The first split-seconds mechanism based on the ETA-Valjoux 7750 was presented in 1992 at

BaselWorld Baselworld Watch and Jewellery Show is a global trade show of the international watch, jewellery and gem industry, organized each spring in the city of Basel, Switzerland, at the Messeplatz. The last Baselworld was held March 21–26, 2019. In ...

. Today this caliber is the main one used in watches with a split-seconds mechanism. In 2010, Gallet introduced the first self-winding double chronograph movement powered by two separate mainsprings. The Swiss company's in-house manufactured calibre G330 solved the decades old issue of decreased accuracy while utilizing the dual recording feature, a characteristic problem with double chronographs. Besides the longer duration (72 hours) between winds, this increase in available power enabled the G330 to maintain certified chronometer-level accuracy across the full range of functions.

Bibliography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Double Chronograph Watches Timekeeping components