A. Lange & Söhne

Hi Moritz,

Before I get double vision or run into double trouble, the DS does not contain two seperate chronographs than can either operate independently or be made to synchronize with each other. 

There are times when a person may need two chronographs, one on either wrist or one on a table-top, say with a totalizer to count the hours.

That however is not the world of DS!

Comparing lap times at races is not my world either.

So why do I love it so much (too many reasons) and use it so much - AHA! - for purposes beyond what an ordinary chronograph would do?

One confusion must be eliminated at the very beginning. There are two seconds hands as on a normal rattrapante. When not activated, the rattra hand covers the chrono hand at 12. In the chrono mode, the chrono hand moves forward, leaving the rattra still positioned at 12. With one push on the pusher at 10 o'clock we are in rattra mode from chrono mode; that is, the rattra hand now completely covers the chrono, running in unison, as if the DS were an ordinary chronograph.

In fact for many purposes, these hands can be used interchangeably. Most of the examples in the forums start in rattra mode, which is what I will be using here.

Say there is this nice little watch store, about 20 minutes away on foot. Point A is here, point B the destination there. I set out in rattra mode. When I reach the store, I push once at 10 o'clock. The time keeps running, but now in chrono mode, with the rattra hands stopped. When I leave the shop I can now read from the gold hands how many minutes and seconds I have spent there in addition to the time it took to from Point A to Point B. Now I have a couple of choices: a) walk back immediately using the same route, b) walk or taxi back using a different route, etc. If I am still on my weary legs, I can compare the time from A to B with B to A merely by restarting, still in chrono mode, using the flyback pusher at 4 o'clock. Or I can pause the chrono in order for me to rest and relax a bit at a café, then restart it again, before or while going back. Or, or, or … 

Wrong strap from the store? Now you can return tomorrow, knowing exactly how long it is going to take you in either direction! Some visit in the future? Make a note of that at home and save it for later.

The great advantage of the DS is being spared from having to take notes on the wing, do mental arithmatic and keep that in  memory - virtually impossible for me in everyday stressful situations.

Only 30 minutes available on the dial? Nonsense - anyone can tell the difference between 40 minutes and 10 minutes, especially on foot. Besides, there is always Normal Time available from this excellent timekeeper.

So, it has taken a few hours of my day, doing this and that, and I want to know the total time that I have been absent from home. Good that I started my trusty Daytona Cosmograph then left it running on the desk. On a trip, of course I would also be wearing it on the other wrist! Caught in a severe rain storm, it might be the only one.

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With that out of way, what earthly good is an "only" Rattrapante? 

My GO - that I had already bought only  a couple of days before discovering the DS - has a nice red rattra seconds hand. Well, I can use that to mark an hour or a day, as an urgent reminder of an appointment or a deadline.  For a certain hour, say 5 o'clock, I just let it run 25 seconds then stop, fixed as a place-keeper, then go back to normal chrono mode - which I could but may not need to set in action at all. For a certain date, get the taxes payed before all hell breaks loose!

When A. Lange & Söhne says that the Double Split is the first Rattrapante to do anything useful (for me), they are right.

Case Closed. 

Or, am I splitting hairs, when I should be splitting seconds - err - minutes?

Thanks, Moritz, for your kind mention of my name on the Patek Thread - which I have read only this morning!

Best Regards - as always,

Amery

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