Interest in minute repeaters has recently surged among bidders investing in watches at auctions.

 

It’s been spurred by the presentation of the Patek Philippe “Advanced Research” Fortissimo Ref. 5750P with its innovative “ff” system for sound amplification and other wonderful chiming watches Patek produces, along with models featuring similar functions by independent masters at Philippe Dufour.

 

What does the current situation on the market for repeaters actually look like? Whose watches are better and whose are more valuable?

 

The First Computers

 

It's interesting that watches capable of sounding the time came before watches with other functions. The term "repeater" is self-explanatory, as the repeating striking mechanism doubles up the time display shown by the watch hands.

 

This was one of the most necessary functions in the 17th and 18th centuries — times when people didn't even know what matches were. It was almost impossible to tell what time it was once darkness had fallen if you were out on your way home.

 

That's why repeaters were born in 1676, before all the other prestigious complications like tourbillons, perpetual calendars or even chronometers. People don't have to deal with the same problem any more, yet minute repeaters aren't dwindling in number. Quite the opposite! More are being made!  

 

 

Minute repeater  pocket watch
Minute repeater pocket watch
Close-up of a quarter repeater movement (dial side with dial plate removed)
Close-up of a quarter repeater movement (dial side with dial plate removed)

Why so? The reason is that repeaters are an integral part of history, science and haute horlogerie. The repeater is also considered the coolest and most prestigious complication to this day. It's the pinnacle of the most prestigious watch category known as Grande Complications.

 

The repeater is a first computer of sorts in its own right, and it’s mechanical! The first person to create one of these mechanical computers was Englishman Edward Barlow. His "dumb" repeater struck the hours, let's say, eleven times, even if it was just a few moments until midnight.

 

 

The repeater is a first computer of sorts in its own right, and it’s mechanical.

 

That's why British masters led by Daniel Quare not only learned how to make repeaters strike the hours, but also taught them to sound quarters, five-minute intervals and minutes. These are the distinguishing features among repeaters — there are hour, quarter, five-minute and minute repeaters. Minute repeaters are considered the coolest.

 

The main advantage repeaters have over hour-strike timepieces is the repeater only sounds on demand when its owner wants it to. This contrasts with timepieces that automatically strike on the hour, waking you up to let you know you it's four o'clock in the morning unless of course you remembered to turn off the striking function for the night.

 

Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime ref. 5175
Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime ref. 5175

The Repeater's Device

 

The mechanical computer is made up of two halves: the watch half and the repeater half. That's why there usually tend to be two barrels inside a repeater's case, each supplying energy to its respective half. There are gongs in the form of a coil of wire wrapped around the movement in several rings and hammers that strike these gongs.

 

There's a block of parts which resemble snails, hence the name snail cams. Each of these snails is connected to the relevant gear wheel for a unit of time in the watch movement, and that's how it knows what time it is.

 

This means when you activate the slide of the repeater, hour, quarter and minute cams "contact" their snails to ask the time and find out how many times they need to strike, then feeler spindles transmit the information to racks to set the hammers in motion that bang the gongs.

 

Philippe Dufour Grande et Petite Sonnerie wristwatch No.1 was sold for $5,182,109 at Phillips in 2021 – a world record amount paid for a piece, created by an independent watchmaker.
Philippe Dufour Grande et Petite Sonnerie wristwatch No.1 was sold for $5,182,109 at Phillips in 2021 – a world record amount paid for a piece, created by an independent watchmaker.

Almost all modern wristwatches have two gongs with low and high-pitched tones. First comes the bass, striking the hours with a "dong!", then the quarters take their turn, which tend to be sounded using double strikes by both hammers in a "ding-dong!".

 

Then single strikes on a high-pitched gong sound the minutes with a "ding!". The most strikes you can hear is 32 if you activate the minute repeater at 12:59. The names of some minute repeaters sometimes include the words Grande Sonnerie or Petite Sonnerie from the French for large and small strikes.

 

These terms are used to refer to models which are not only capable of telling the time on demand but can also strike the hours and quarters automatically. Grande Sonnerie repeats the hour at every quarter while Petite Sonnerie minimally marks each hour only once. 

 

However, the most important thing about a repeater is how many gongs or notes it can strike on demand. The watchmaking greats Patek Philippe, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Ulysse Nardin and Gerald Genta have also created carillon mechanisms with cathedral chimes, i.e. watches with four gongs which can perform a melody.

 

A. Lange & Söhne Zeitwerk, featuring a decimal minute repeater, 2015
A. Lange & Söhne Zeitwerk, featuring a decimal minute repeater, 2015

 

The majority of their creators choose one of the world's most famous bell-tower melodies, chimed out at Westminster Abbey: the fourth (mi, do, re, sol) and the fifth (sol, re, mi, do). In other words, if you see the word "carillon" or "Westminster" in the name, you're looking at a top-class repeater.

 

Minute repeaters have always been a status symbol, owned by people with the highest social standing. This has helped repeaters survive both the arrival of electricity and luminescent dials. Repeater wristwatches may well be compared to underwater bicycles — items which are equally essential and practical.

 

 

Minute repeaters have always been a status symbol, owned by people with the highest social standing.

 

The only major differences are in how much they cost and the health benefits they bring. That's because the main challenge in creating repeater wristwatches is finding enough space to create a resonance chamber in the watch's compact case and make the striking sound audible.

 

The best materials for sound propagation are steel and polished titanium, while white gold is the best precious metal. The worst material is platinum due to its high density and viscosity, but this is precisely the material manufacturers chose to create repeaters, clearly striving to prove no challenge is too great.