- STYLE
Minute Repeater
- Xiaodong Qin
- 2018-10-11
Time is audible. In the dead of night, when you touch the “strings” of the wrist watch and enjoy the thrilling chiming of the minute repeater, you can listen to the notes of time. It’s amazing to hear the crisp sound of the spring and the flow of time.
Heavenly journey
Jaquet Droz Tropical Bird Repeater
The Jaquet Droz Tropical Bird Repeater with flamboyant colors emerges like a lush oasis on a mother-of-pearl dial. Hand-decorated by engravers and miniaturist painters, it evokes images of the Garden of Eden. Seven animations can exceed 12 seconds and play out four different scenarios: the hummingbird beats its wings up to 40 times per second, the toucan emerges from the palm leaves, the dragonflies flit around and the blue peacock opens and closes its tail feathers.
Combined with the automaton feature, the Jaquet Droz Tropical Bird Repeater is equipped with a minute repeater that chimes the hours, quarter hours and minutes via the vibration of cathedral gongs struck by hammers inside the case.
A virtually silent wheel regulator and new rack springs, an extended pause between the quarter hours and minutes and the striking of the quarter hours at major third are also part of the complication’s innovations.
La Musique du Temps
Vacheron Constantin Traditionnelle Minute Repeater Tourbillon
The movement powering the Traditionelle Minute Repeater Tourbillon is the in-house developed and manufactured Caliber 2755 TMR, which drives two major horological complications: the minute repeater and the tourbillon. Pressing on a single pusher, the gongs of the mechanism chime the hours, quarters and minutes. In addition to the hours and minutes dial, the caliber also displays small seconds on the tourbillon carriage.
The dial is engraved with a refined hand-guilloché motif reserved for timepieces, a delicate traditional skill applied to watchmaking from the 18th century onwards and exclusively available from Vacheron Constantin boutiques.
The 58-hour power-reserve indication, with its pink gold pointer whose color was achieved by a black oxide process, is unusually placed on the back of the watch rather than on the dial. Available exclusively from Vacheron Constantin boutiques, the Traditionnelle minute repeater tourbillon is delivered with a resonance holder “La Musique du Temps” that serves to amplify the sound and the harmony of the notes struck by the minute repeater.
Trebling phonology
Girard-Perregaux The Minute Repeater Tri-Axial Tourbillon
A gem of mechanical refinement and a true musical instrument, the Minute Repeater Tri-Axial Tourbillon was developed by the engineers and watchmakers of the Manufacture Girard-Perregaux in a manner entirely worthy of a luthier. To free up as much space as possible over half of the upper disc surface and display the movement structure of the minute repeater, the masters of the Manufacture Girard-Perregaux created an original hours display and divided the space into two parts by means of a long bridge positioned in line with the winding crown.
To enhance the auditory efficiency of the minute repeater, elements such as the hammers and gong- rings usually placed on the back of the movement were therefore repositioned on the front. In this way, once the repeater slide on the left of the case middle is activated, the sounds emitted by the gong-rings are no longer partially absorbed by the wrist nor by the main plate, but can instead more easily radiate towards the outside of the Grade 5 titanium case, giving the sound its full amplitude.
Church bells chiming
Hublot Classic Fusion Tourbillon Cathedral Minute Repeater Titanium
This new Grande Complication is the result of 24 months of research and development. The sapphire dial reveals the HUB 8001 hand-wound mechanical movement, with its tourbillon escapement and the Minute Repeater mechanism. This striking movement consists of 319 individually hand-assembled components, from plates and bridges to gongs and screws which are all finished to the highest standards in haute horlogerie.
In a cathedral minute repeater, the gong is twice the length of that in a standard one and produces a louder and more harmonious chime. Beyond that, the sound of the chime no longer relies on airborne transmission, but rather resonates through the titanium case. In the large majority of watches with a minute repeater or other chiming complications, the activation “slider” is found protruding out of the side of the case. With the Classic Fusion Cathedral Tourbillon Minute Repeater however, the sliding trigger has been ingeniously incorporated into the case design by the integrated bezel lug on the left- hand side of the case, preserving the timeless elegance of the Classic Fusion.
Awaken sound
Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Concept SUPERSONNERIE
Featuring a futuristic look, the Royal Oak Concept Supersonnerie was awarded the Mechanical Exception prize at the GPHG. Sonically developed through an acoustic research in collaboration with the EPFL — Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne – Audemars Piguet has made a breakthrough in the acoustic quality of chiming watch technology. This repeater isn’t just a timekeeping watch, it’s also an acoustic instrument.
By applying the principles of stringed instrument making, the specially designed sound template achieves extreme acoustic performance: the sound string is tightly fastened to the bridge plate. Toggle the sound chord and it will achieve a specific frequency of vibration, resulting in cadence of the wonderful voice.
Cased in 44mm titanium, the new Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Concept Supersonnerie is equipped with the manual wound in-house caliber 2937, tourbillon, chronograph with central sweep-seconds hand, hours, minutes and minute repeater on two gongs.