A.Lange & Söhne 1815 Rattrapante Chronograph Limited Edition

Overall Condition: Excellent condition throughout showing only light wear from age and use.

Born in 1815, Ferdinand Adolph Lange trained under Johann Christian Friedrich Gutkaes, clockmaker to the Saxon royal court, before establishing his manufacture in Glashütte in 1845. His embrace of precision machinery, standardized components, and rigorous measurement helped transform the small Saxon town into one of Europe’s great centers of watchmaking.

The company disappeared behind the Iron Curtain following World War II, only to make a remarkable return after German reunification. In 1990, Ferdinand’s great-grandson Walter Lange revived A. Lange & Söhne, reconnecting contemporary watchmaking with a distinctly German tradition that had been interrupted for nearly half a century.

The 1815 collection takes its name from Ferdinand Adolph Lange’s birth year and distills that history into a recognizable design language: Arabic numerals, railway minute tracks, restrained typography, and details inspired by historic pocket watches. But Reference 425.050 takes that otherwise traditional formula in a considerably more complicated direction.

Housed in a 41.2mm honeygold case, this 1815 Rattrapante pairs the considerable heft of the proprietary gold alloy with a beautifully restrained black gilt dial. Soft Arabic numerals and a peripheral tachymeter scale frame the display, while golden hands provide a crisp contrast. The vertically arranged registers place the 30-minute chronograph counter at 12 o’clock and running seconds at 6, creating near-perfect symmetry around the two superimposed central chronograph hands.

Those hands reveal what makes the watch so special. This is a rattrapante, or split-seconds chronograph, capable of simultaneously timing two events that begin together but end independently. Start the chronograph and the two central seconds hands move as one; press the additional pusher and one stops while the other continues. Another press reunites them, ready to repeat the process.

Inside is Lange’s manually wound Calibre L101.2, comprising more than 350 components and using two column wheels to orchestrate the chronograph and split-seconds functions. Visible through the sapphire caseback, the movement's densely layered levers, springs, wheels, and bridges, turn it into a miniature mechanical landscape. This particular variant comes with satinated bridges unlike the typical finishing approach of A. Lange & Sohne, making this particularly unique.

Limited to just 100 pieces, this piece is part of a limited tribute to F.A. Lange. From the front, it could almost pass for an exceptionally handsome vintage-inspired chronograph. Turn it over, or press one of those pushers, and that impression changes quickly.