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In 2004, Lange did something no one else had attempted. The Double Split took the rattrapante, a complication long confined to the seconds and extended it to the minutes. It was also a flyback, which meant that timing could be reset and restarted instantly, even if one of the hands was held in split. Nothing like it had ever been made, and nothing like it has been made since.

Its base architecture starts off with the familiar rattrapante design. The split seconds wheel is set in the tube of the chronograph arbor with the split seconds heart cam rigidly fixed to the tube. Attached to the rim of the split seconds wheel is a drive lever, which is kept in constant contact with the heart cam by the pressure of a spring, allowing both the chronograph seconds wheel and split wheel to run together. The same logic is duplicated for the minutes register.

A. Lange & Söhne Double Split with both split seconds and split minute hands, allowing the measurement of twin elapsed times up to 30 minutes

While the split seconds wheel is clamped between jaws, as is traditional, the split minutes wheel has ratchet recesses on its rim into which a spring-loaded catch drops to hold it fast. Because the recesses match the minute increments, the split hand always stops in perfect alignment with the running minute hand.

Crucially, it also incorporates isolators for both the split-seconds and split-minutes mechanisms to prevent friction and the resulting loss of amplitude when the split hands are stopped. The uppermost wheel in the minutes and seconds stacks are isolator wheels. When the rattrapante is activated, the isolator wheels pivot a post against the drive lever, lifting it away from the heart cams so the frozen split wheels are completely decoupled. A single column wheel controls the entire split sequence.

View from the caseback

The Double Split Caliber L001.1

At the same time, the main chronograph hands can be reset and restarted instantly, regardless whether the split is activated or not, via the lower pusher. The movement also retains the instantaneous jumping minutes mechanism of the Datograph. The minute hand clicks forward once per revolution of the chronograph seconds hand, rather than creeping.

No other chronograph has attempted this blend of complexity and completeness, and for nearly two decades it has stood alone, matched only by its own successor in 2018, the Triple Split, which extended the logic into the hours.

Tech Specs: A. Lange & Söhne Double Split

Movement Manual winding Caliber L001.1; 38-hour power reserve
Functions Hours, minutes and small seconds; flyback chronograph with double rattrapante (split seconds and split minutes)
Case 43mm × 15.3mm; 18K pink gold or platinum; water resistant to 30m
Dial Argenté (pink gold version) or black (platinum version)
Strap Alligator leather with pin buckle