On 17 July 2016, German triathlete Jan Frodeno achieved a new world record for the triathlon long distance. In an amazing seven hours, 35 minutes and 39 seconds, he mastered the combination of swimming 3.8 kilometres, cycling 180 kilometres and running 42.2 kilometres. It took 20 minutes and 44 seconds longer for the runner-up, Joe Skipper of Britain, to reach the finish line. Among all mechanical rattrapante chronographs, only one would have been able to precisely record the times of the winner and the second-placed competitor in hours, minutes and seconds: the new Triple Split by A. Lange & Söhne.
The timepiece is the only split-seconds chronograph in the world that can measure additive and comparative times for as long as twelve hours. Additional rattrapante hands on the minute and hour totalisers make it possible to stop lap and reference times of events.
It features a precise jumping rattrapante minute counter and a continuous rattrapante hour counter, which allows it to multiply the measuring range of the rattrapante function by a factor of 24. For instance, the Triple Split can compare the times of two opponents in a Formula 1 race, a Tour de France leg or a marathon. It can also record the times of consecutively starting events, such as the outbound and return legs of a long-haul flight. It’s also possible to add the times of multi-hour events, such as the duration of individual Ironman disciplines. Any number of lap times can be stopped during an additive time measurement.
The Triple Split – which comes in a limited edition of 100 pieces – is endowed with a flyback function that involves all three hand pairs as well. So the chronograph can be reset and instantly restarted by pressing the lower chronograph pusher even during an ongoing measurement. A power-reserve indicator based on Lange’s typical Up/Down display shows how much of the 55-hour reserve remains available.
The grey dial in solid silver is colour-coordinated with the 18-carat white-gold case that has a diameter is 43.2 millimetres. The three blue steel rattrapante hands set themselves apart from the rhodium chronograph hands. The hands that display the time and the applied baton hour markers are made of rhodium gold. The hour and minute hands are luminous.
A glance through the sapphire-crystal case back reveals the chronograph movement finished to the highest Lange standards as well as the interaction of wheels, levers, springs, clutches, and jumpers that illustrates the stunning complexity of the project.
Find out more on alange-soehne.com
