Habring² Doppel 2.0 Split-Seconds Chronograph

News from Maria & Richard Habring
 

We take great pleasure in presenting to you our innovations for the year 2012. Please find enclosed pictures and press release text on our latest Habring²product: Our split seconds chronograph, also known as "Doppel 2.0" in reminiscence of the legendary double chronograph.

The "Doppel 2.0" also represents a bow in honour of 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.

The Doppel 2.0 will receive its premiere in the German-speaking region at the grand opening of the first fixed point of sale for Habring² products in Germany: at the House of Hartding - 1903 Exceptional Watch Creations in Dresden.  Please note that Hartding is far from being a run-of-the-mill watch dealer: in addition to sales and advice the company's declared objective is to promote small and independent watch brands.

The company's portfolio therefore includes small manufacturers alongside the bigger names of AHCI members. Independence and a love of their respective product are characteristics shared by all.

Initiator Marco Lang, a founding member of watchmakers "Lang & Heyne" in Dresden and son of a watchmaking dynasty, has connected seamlessly to the traditions of his ancestors in the watchmaking trade. It was his grandfather Richard Hartding who braved the step into self-employment when he opened his own watch dealership back in 1903.

Dresden also represents full circle for Habring². After all, it was here, in Maria Kristina Habring‘s home town, where two perfectionists happened to meet by chance, that the journey of Habring² once began.

best regards

Maria & Richard Habring

 

Below the Habring2 Press release:






HABRING Uhrentechnik                                                                                                Völkermarkt, 24 March 2012

Doppel 2.0 – 20 years in the making

Joseph Thaddäus Winnerl (born 1799 in Mureck in Styria – died 1886 in Paris) hit upon the idea of a separately stoppable seconds hand in 1831, whilst searching for the first watch that could measure intervals of time. Whilst other great minds refined the mechanism over the years to follow and finally arrived at we know today as the chronograph, Winnerl's work had laid the foundations for a more complicated chronograph: the chrono rattrapante or double (or split-seconds) chronograph.

The double chronograph gets its name from a double seconds hand anchored at the centre 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.

Now, in 2012, it is again an Austrian company that has reinterpreted the double chronograph in a future-oriented design: Maria and Richard Habring aka Habring².

The technology is not completely new to the couple; after all, Richard Habring played a major role in the development of the complication when he first started out on his career as a watch designer under his mentor, Günter Blümlein. At the time, his completely new approach convinced not only his colleagues but also the patents office. The document published under the number DE4209580A depicts a hitherto unseen design of the fragile lever mechanism required to hold the rear-mounted split-seconds wheel.

One of the design's special features is the omission of the traditional column wheel, which is not only complicated to produce but also requires complex adjustment in conjunction with a split-seconds function. However, the design, which integrated the functional module in an existing movement, went on to display the odd drawback here and there over the next 20 years. The dynamic entrepreneurial couple have taken this as an opportunity to rework the design whilst incorporating some decisive improvements. In contrast to the original patent, the Doppel 2.0 is characterised by superior service friendliness.


And so ends a 20-year chapter of consistent development and improvement. This time span is the reason why Habring² is making an exception and departing from its usual annual output of 12 units per model to produce precisely 20 Doppel 2.0 at their atelier in Völkermarkt.

Of course, the A08MR calibre has all the hallmarks of the small Austrian manufacturer in addition to the ingenious split-seconds mechanism. Accurate chronometer measurement and superior reliability are the result of small-scale manufacturing and assembly. The sub-dials have a classic east-west orientation to provide a visual counterpart to the original. The sapphire crystal base offers an unrestricted view of the manual mechanism.

There is a choice of three dial designs: blue, grey and brown, each offset in orange. The Doppel 2.0 is available exclusively in a 42 mm diameter stainless steel case at a price of  € 6,000.

A few technical details of the    Habring²-Doppel 2.0

Movement Habring² A08MR:

-    Hour, minute display, small running seconds hand;
stop-seconds hand and 30-minute counter; split-seconds hand
-    Manual winding
-    Triovis fine adjustment
-    Escapement parts in chronometer quality
-    Shock-proof in accordance with DIN and NIHS
-    23 rubies
-    48 hours of power reserve when fully wound
-    101 service-relevant individual components

Case:

-    Stainless steel, 3 screwed sections
-    Waterproof to a depth equivalent of 50 metres
-    Concave sapphire crystal, non-reflective coating on both sides
-    Double-sealed crown, sapphire crystal base
-    Engraved selective serial number 01 – 2012 to 20 – 2012 between the lugs at 6 o'clock

Dial/hands:

-    Blue, grey or brown galvanised metal dial with silver digits,
rhodanised numbers and hour indexes with Superluminova coating
-    Polished, rhodanised, thread hands with Superluminova coating,
blued counter hands, matt-lacquered chrono seconds hand and split-seconds hand