The Perpetuelle debut for HABRING², exclusive mechanical watches made in Austria. Habring’s introduction here @Perpetuelle comes with their beautiful new Doppelchronograph, also known as a split seconds or rattrapante function (see “Did You Know” below), but first some background. The short story is that brand namesake Richard Habring was many years ago employed by IWC Schaffhausen where with his genius he developed an innovative split-seconds mechanism (if you want technical details, leave a comment below and I’ll respond). At the time, this mechanism was patented (held by IWC) and monetized to great effect by the brand, as we all know. But in time, Richard Habring moved on, starting Habring² in Austria with his wife, Maria Kristina. Fast forward to today and the aforementioned patent (having lapsed earlier this year) has enabled Richard Habring to use his original split-seconds mechanism in watches bearing his own name. Bottom line (of this far-too-condensed-story): with the Habring Doppel 2.0 seen here, you essentially get the same movement as the IWC split-seconds but at a fraction of the price (about EUR6000), and in a unique and highly limited design (only about 12 pieces per model per year are made by Habring). This is what independent watchmaking is all about — a fantastic watch, no doubt!
Habring² Dopplechronograph 2.0
42mm case, automatic mechanical split seconds movement, blue/grey/ or /brown dial with matching strap
Did You Know?
Doppelchronograph
The double chronograph gets its name from a double seconds hand anchored at the center that during normal operation runs synchronously with the normal seconds hand. It kicks into action when the characteristic third pusher at the top left of the watch case is pressed. Whilst the chronograph’s seconds hand moves continuously, the other one can be stopped to record intermediate times. Pressing the pusher again elegantly returns the split-seconds hand to its position above the normal seconds hand.
The Habring “Doppel 2.0″ also represents a bow to a genius watchmaker from Austria: Josef Thaddäus Winnerl, whose studies of 1831 founded the basis for measuring split times that is still in use to this day.
