The independent seconds hand (one that can be stopped and started without stopping the watch) is thought to have been invented by Pouzait, a Genevan watchmaker, who presented his invention in 1776. The complication was used by Breguet in the “Marie Antoinette” pocket watch and was occasionally used by other watchmakers as well. It’s similar to the Omega Chronostop, but the latter is slightly different, in that in the Chronostop, the seconds hand stops when you hold down the stop button, and then resets to zero when you release it. Along with the deadbeat seconds, this makes this new watch very much an insider’s piece with very deep roots in watchmaking history; the independent seconds complication was the ancestor of the modern chronograph, which began to replace the independent seconds complication in the mid-1800s. According to Lange, A. Lange & Söhne was granted a patent for their version of the complication, in 1877.
Introducing The A. Lange & Söhne 1815 ‘Homage To Walter Lange’
