A.Lange & Söhne 1815 Rattapante Chronograph

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 425.025 takes that otherwise traditional formula in a considerably more complicated direction.

Housed in a 41.2mm 950 platinum case, this 1815 Rattrapante pairs the considerable heft of platinum with a beautifully restrained solid-silver dial. Black Arabic numerals and a peripheral tachymeter scale frame the display, while blued-steel 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, bridges, polished surfaces, and hand-finished components turn it into a miniature mechanical landscape. This is precisely the sort of movement where Lange’s famously obsessive finishing feels entirely justified.

Limited to just 200 pieces, the platinum 1815 Rattrapante is a rare combination of restraint and mechanical excess. 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. 

This example is fitted to a signed black alligator leather strap with a matching platinum pin buckle and is accompanied by its inner and outer boxes and warranty card. For all its complexity, the appeal is remarkably straightforward: platinum, split seconds, hand-wound Lange finishing, and a dial that doesn't need to shout about any of it.

For Germany, Reunification represented a renaissance of sorts for a country that had been rent asunder by the Cold War. And for A. Lange & Söhne, which fate had situated on the Eastern side of the Iron Curtain, it was indeed a rebirth.

Lange was founded in Glashütte in 1845, and its first century was truly a golden age. The brand imbued its products with a care and an attention to detail that brought worldwide renown. Its pocket watches, in particular, earned high marks in competitions and were used on the railroads of Europe.

But the onset of World War II and the subsequent Soviet occupation brought that golden age to an end. The Soviet authorities expropriated the company in 1948 — the factory was shuttered, and the once-shining name of A. Lange & Söhne nearly faded into obscurity. That is, until 1990, when Walter Lange — great-grandson of the founder, Ferdinand A. Lange — resurrected his family’s old company and brought it to prominence once more.

Armed with Ferdinand Lange’s journal, Walter Lange sketched a watch that would adapt his great-grandfather’s designs to modern tastes, while still keeping an eye firmly on tradition. In the journal, Walter discovered sketches of a clock that Ferdinand designed with his mentor Johann Gutkaes. Commissioned by the Elector of Saxony for the Semperoper House in Dresden, the “Five Minute Clock” was nothing short of revolutionary.

With legibility as their primary concern, Johann Gutkaes and Ferdinand Lange designed a clock that, with its rectangular construction and two counter-rotating drums — one to show the hours, the other the minutes — was essentially the world’s first digital clock. Over one hundred years later, it was that clock that would inspire the modern manufacture’s first watch post-Reunification.

In 1992, Walter Lange filed a patent for a big date window, similar in style to the clock in the opera house. Two years later, it would appear on the Lange 1. Without question the firm’s flagship model, it features a big date function as its hallmark. Though found in watches like the Zeitwerk or the Langematik Sax-O-Mat, it’s in the Lange 1 that the big date is used to the greatest effect. Alongside other details such as asymmetrical sub-dials depicting the hours and sub-seconds, and the A. Lange & Söhne's signature with its famous ampersand shows a clarity of vision that is wholly Lange.

Subsequent models — no less innovative — have only further cemented the brand’s footing as one of the most refined and fascinating watchmakers in business today. From the ludicrously complicated Zeitwerk to the elegant Saxonia to the recent Odysseus dive watch, Lange & Söhne is committed to pushing the horological envelope and reestablishing Germany as foremost amongst the world’s centers of watchmaking innovation.

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Condition

Since our pieces are vintage or pre-owned, please expect wear & patina from usage and age. Please read each item description and examine all product images.

Warranty

We back each Analog:Shift vintage timepiece with a two-year mechanical warranty from the date of purchase.

International Buyers

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All of our watches include complementary insured shipping within the 50 states.

Most of our products are on hand and will ship directly from our headquarters in New York City. In some cases, watches will be shipped directly from one of our authorized partners.

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Returns must be sent overnight or by priority international delivery, fully insured and paid for by the customer. A restocking fee may apply. Watches must be returned in the same condition as initially shipped.

We welcome international buyers, please contact us prior to purchase for additional details on shipping and payment options.