REPETITION OF TIME: Part Two

Qlekta's pick: repeaters with great potential for collectors and the brands at the cutting edge of sound.

Jaeger-LeCoultre, Patek Philippe 

In recent times, the largest contribution to the development of minute repeaters has been made by big names in haute horlogerie like Jaeger-LeCoultre along with Patek Philippe, Breguet, and Gerald Genta (now owned by Bulgari), plus Ulysse Nardin to a certain degree.

These companies were the first to begin producing repeaters with four gongs and are increasing their market lead year after year. At the very end of last year, watchmaking great Patek Philippe introduced the company's own patented “ff” system for sound amplification in repeater wristwatches, housed in the Patek Philippe “Advanced Research” Fortissimo Ref. 5750P.  It may be described as innovative, but there's nothing fundamentally new about it.

All four gongs are mounted to a base which incorporates a flexibly suspended sound lever as the sole route to transmit oscillations, i.e. oscillation is only transferred to that tuning-fork lever, and only then can the lever come in contact with an oscillating wafer made of sapphire-crystal glass to propagate sound through the entire case. In other words, this idea has already been done by Jaeger-LeCoultre.

The dial has four concentric openings in the outer ring around the case at 12, 3, 6, and 9 o'clock in order to amplify the sound propagated through them. Just to prove how sophisticated the new system is, Patek Philippe has housed the watch in a 40 mm platinum case — sound's natural enemy. Even the hammers are made of this material.

The company's press release claims the hammers are "a patented solution that in this specific case improves the quality of the strike in line with the directives of the Patek Philippe Seal". The weight of the message is in its second half in this quote and has nothing to do with the improved striking quality.

It's worth mentioning that the 15 pieces which retailed for CHF 590,000 sold out in the blink of an eye. If you try to rank the coolest modern repeaters, the model in first place would be theJaeger-LeCoultre Hybris Artistica Mechanica a Grande Sonnerie from 2017.

It showcases many years of research and development at the Grande Maison in the village of Le Sentier. Some examples would be the four gongs soldered in a sapphire-crystal case for improved vibration and volume, as well as the complicated articulated “trebuchet” hammers.

They have a moving striking part which instantly jumps back from the gong after a strike so that it sounds for as long and as loud as possible. The movement is comprised of two parts which are separate from each other (one half is only responsible for timekeeping while the other is only responsible for the repeater), which ensures the highest level of reliability and accuracy for the mechanism.

It's also complemented by a tourbillon and perpetual calendar. The most sophisticated minute repeater was released as a skeletonized version with a dial made of quartz crystal in a white-gold case measuring 44 mm in diameter.

Given Patek Philippe has already been implementing an exhaustive and sustained auction policy for a number of decades now, buying its own timepieces for massive amounts of money, the best and most promising investment still attainable would be the Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime model.

Breguet

A very impressive repeater introduced in 2015 is the Breguet Tradition Répétition Minutes Tourbillon 7087. Its creators revisited traditional methods of creating and emitting sound. This happened to involve synthesizing around one hundred thousand sounds! Only then, after the most suitable and audible sounds were determined, did they begin working on the watch.

Its Caliber 300 movement consists of 1,366 individual parts, and the minute repeater is complemented by a perpetual calendar module and alarm. Its unique Ref. 6300A-010 version in a stainless-steel case measuring 47.7 mm is the most expensive wristwatch in the world. It was bought for the record sum of CHF 31 million at the 2019 Only Watch charity auction.

This was the first time in the history of watchmaking that a watchmaker took sound as the starting point rather than the movement. That being the case, it's interesting that the gongs are still constructed in almost the same way as the construction invented by Abraham-Louis Breguet himself a century and a half ago.

The gongs springs are attached to a bezel screwed to the case-band with three pillars to improve the transmission of vibrations. This form of attachment is patented, as it allows the bezel and glass to vibrate freely. While hammers in minute repeaters normally strike gongs horizontally, this one uses vertical strikes.

There's also a membrane attached to the sapphire crystal of the display back which amplifies the sound. Other technological feats that deserve a mention include a silent magnetic governor to regulate the speed of the hammers. The watch is enclosed in a 44 mm white- or rose-gold case with gongs made of the same metal.

Audemars Piguet 

Audemars Piguet has gone down a similar route. The Royal Oak Concept RD model is the first repeater wristwatch which can easily be heard from 5-6 meters away in a relatively quiet space. The secret to its success lies in its complex and very thick case made of titanium and a top-secret alloy, also used to make the gongs.

Ulysse Nardin, Vacheron Constantin

Ulysse Nardin stands out from the crowd of watchmakers manufacturing repeaters by seeking to complement chiming timepieces with animated jaquemarts or automata — figurines of people or animals which move in time to the chime.

The manually wound UN-78 with a 72-hour power reserve was used as the base movement for minute repeaters with Westminster Chime, tourbillons and jaquemarts resembling famous generals, oil barons and musicians. There are even ones with erotic motifs.

The movements have become more sophisticated over time, the latest achievement being jaquemarts which move in time to the beat of the Grande Sonnerie.  Strange as it may sound, Vacheron Constantin’s achievements look a little more modest against the backdrop of other watchmaking greats. 

This is especially true when it comes to sound propagation. For some reason or another, this time-honored watchmaker competed in a questionable race with Bulgari to create the thinnest repeater wristwatch. And the watchmaker only released its first wristwatch with Grande Sonnerie five years ago, when the manufacturer unveiled the Les Cabinotiers Symphonia Grande Sonnerie 1860 model. 

Nevertheless, Vacheron Constantin can still boast having the most sophisticated system for controlling and protecting a minute repeater. The watch in question is the first of its kind to feature a strike-mode selector operated by rotating the bezel. No new chiming operation can begin while another one is sounding. 

If the mode is changed when a chime is ringing out, the new mode will only be activated once the sounding chime has been finished. And finally, the watch won't chime if the winding barrel doesn't have enough energy to ensure the watch strikes right the way to the end of its melody.

Les Cabinotiers Symphonia Grande Sonnerie 1860 was released in a white-gold case measuring 45 mm in diameter and 15.1 mm in height. The watch comes in a presentation box with a sound resonator, La Musique Du Temps, for enhancing the sound and the harmony of notes Vacheron Constantin's minute repeater. 

Vacheron Constantin has recently started making repeaters which can be identified by their strike, like to a person's fingerprint. The way it works is every repeater's strike is recorded and certified at the famous Abbey Road Studios, where iconic musicians recorded and continue to record songs, including the Beatles, Oasis and Adele.

Manufacture Royale

Owners receive a unique personal sonic print along with the watch. It's worth highlighting the experiments conducted to amplify sound by a young Genevan company called Manufacture Royale, set up by the Guten brothers who've worked for some of the largest Swiss watchmakers.

The process is led by long-standing Vacheron Constantin International Director Marc Guten. Manufacture Royale specializes in manufacturing watches classed as Grande Complications with a modern mould-breaking appearance.

The company's first skeletonized Opera minute repeater is no exception, housed in an unfolding case which is no simple construction. Let's start with the fact that this repeater holds the world record for its 108-hour power reserve.

The sound of striking can be amplified using a surprisingly simple and effective method: the case opens like the bellow of an old organ. And it achieves a truly palpable volume in this open position, as the diameter of the white- and rose-gold case is a full 50 mm.

Another revered luxury Saxon manufacture with many fans has also set a world record, but not for sound propagation. A. Lange & Söhne’s Zeitwerk Minute Repeater was praised for being the first repeater to combine a display using mechanical jumping numerals with a decimal minute repeater, and the third to strike ten-minute intervals instead of quarters.

The repeater module is activated with a pusher which uncouples the wheel train of the winder from the ratchet wheel that drives the striking mechanism during striking. The platinum case is 44.2 mm in diameter. There are also pink-gold watch versions with a titanium inlay in the center of the case to improve sound quality.

If we name the Japanese watchmaking giant Seiko and the small independent watchmakers Philippe Dufour, Greubel Forsey and François-Paul Journe, the list of interesting modern manufacturers making minute repeaters is pretty much exhausted. The remaining manufacturers rely on third-party services offered by watchmakers such as Christophe Claret, who serves around a dozen brands.

Now is the perfect time to consider what impact technical feats have on the price of minute repeaters on the pre-owned market. And the conclusion we reach is — not that much. Bar some rare exceptions, the name inscribed on the dial is what really determines the fate of a striking timepiece.