Seagull Presents a $3,500 Split-Second Chronograph, Arguably The Most Accessible Rattrapante on the Market

When you think split-second or rattrapante chronographs, you’ll immediately picture high-end watches from Vacheron Constantin or Patek Philippe… Finding an accessible rattrapante chronograph, at least new on the market, is not going to be an easy task, especially if you consider Swiss or European watch manufacturers. But, something from the other side of the world is about to change that. In late December 2024, Seagull, the large movement and watch producer from China, was celebrating its 70th anniversary. And part of a commemorative collection of complex watches was something fairly intriguing, the Seagull Split-Second Chronograph Limited, a 3.5K dollar watch that not only is China’s first rattrapante chronograph but very possibly the most accessible of its kind on the market now.

For many years, the concept of a mechanical rattrapante chronograph was reserved for high-end watchmakers and sports stopwatches, and hardly something accessible to a wider audience. Fragile, complex to develop and assemble, it required skilled watchmakers and time… And thus prices to match. At least until 1993 when IWC, thanks to the genius mind of Richard Habring, presented a simplified version of the rattrapante based on the tried and tested Valjoux 7750 – movements that could be found in the Pilot’s Watch Doppelchronograph 3711 or the Portugieser Rattrapante 3712. Once the patent expired in 2012, Richard Habring and his wife Maria, founders of Harbing², presented their own version of this watch, the Doppel 2.0 – an immediate success when it was launched, also the winner of the Sports Watch Prize at the 2012 GPHG. A year later, Habring² introduced the Doppel 3.0.

Looking at the current market for a relatively accessible split-second or rattrapante chronograph, Maria and Richard Habring are still very much at the top of their game here, with the Doppel-Felix and Doppel38, watches priced at around USD 10,000. We also have to remember Sinn in 2016, with the 910 Anniversary, a limited edition that was offered back then at USD 5,940 – but it’s sold out for years now. Also worth mentioning is the Breitling Premier B15 Duograph in steel, with a hand-wound rattrapante version of the brand’s in-house chronograph B01, offered at USD 11,250 currently. Surprisingly, there’s no split-second chronograph by Sellita, which could create an accessible and readily available movement. So yes, a new rattrapante chronograph watch still is about 10k dollars. There are some nice opportunities in the neo-vintage scene, specifically the aforementioned IWC models.

Tianjin Seagull Watch Group, primarily known as an entry-level movement supplier, made some noise recently when announcing drastically limited the supply of its hand-wound chronograph – the ST19 and its derivatives – with a minimum order quantity of 10,000 pieces (not something micro-brands were happy about…) But Seagull Watch is once again making some noise with the introduction of this watch, the Split-Second Chronograph Limited Edition, a rattrapante chronograph offered at an impressive price of USD 3,499 – which makes it, according to our research before writing this article, the best value for such a complication on the market. And it’s also the first rattrapante chronograph from China.

Let’s talk about what’s not so exciting first, the watch itself. Well, there’s nothing wrong with this Seagull Split-Second Chronograph regarding the design, but let’s agree that it isn’t the most spectacular model of the year. Fairly classic, not highly innovative and inspired by traditional Swiss models. The watch is 42.5mm in diameter, with a thickness of 16mm. The case is made of titanium, with polished and brushed surfaces, and features a double-domed sapphire crystal on top. The back has a nice decagonal screwed sapphire back. Alongside the crown, there are three pushers – a classic layout for a rattrapante, with the 2 standard pushers at 2 and 4 o’clock, and the rattrapante pusher at 10 o’clock. A nice touch or a bit of a lame detail (depending on how you want to see it), these pushers are decorated with a guilloche effect that’s reminiscent of Patek’s current reference 5172, or a vintage reference 1463.

As for the dial, the Seagull Rattrapante Chronograph is equally traditional, with a silvery-white base, recessed counters for the small seconds and 30-minute counter, a slightly raised inner flange with tachymeter scale and applied, polished stylized Arabic numerals to mark the hours. And no, the applied logo isn’t an envelope but a stylized seagull. Time is indicated by heat-blued leaf-shaped hands – a nice touch – and a pair of central seconds hands for the split-second function. The watch is worn on a 22mm black alligator strap closed by a titanium pin buckle. Again, classic and restrained.

What is far more interesting is what sits inside this case, the new calibre ST1961… Well, “new” is a bit of a stretch here, but you’ll get the idea. This rattrapante chronograph is based on the classic hand-wound movement of Seagull, the calibre ST1901, itself designed after the Venus 175, and first seen in the famous Seagull 1963 wristwatch – after the Tianjin Watch Factory acquired machinery and designs from Venus, and then modified the movement to become the ST19, then followed by its evolution, the ST1901.

What Seagull has done here to transform the venerable hand-wound, column-wheel and horizontal clutch calibre ST1901 into a rattrapante chronograph movement is fairly simple and comparable to the clever, simple solution once created by Richard Habring over the Valjoux 7750. The rattrapante function is obtained thanks to an additional module over the movement and is based on a cam-operated system (simpler and thus less expensive than a column-wheel-actuated version), with a traditional clamp to stop the additional central seconds, and a heart-shaped cam for the upper hand to “catch up” (rattraper in French) the main seconds hand and return to its original position when the clamp released. The movement itself comprises 27 jewels, runs at 21,600 vibrations/hour and stores 45 hours of power reserve.

The movement seems to be finished slightly better than what you’d normally expect from Seagull’s entry-level calibres, and the website states hand-made decorations – it’s hard to judge from these renderings. There seem to be some Geneva stripes on the upper split-second bridge and also polished chamfers. And we’d be curious to handle the watch and test the split-seconds function – again, we can’t judge the movement’s functionalities on specs and photos but, in all fairness, it seems promising.

This Seagull Split-Second Chronograph reference 418.13.1077 is limited to 500 pieces and is now available for orders at seagullwatches.com. And as said earlier in this article, the price is quite impressive, being USD 3,499 or CNY 23,800. I know that opinions about China-made watches are divided, but in all fairness, I’d be curious to see this new rattrapante in the metal and to test it…