The minute repeater is a complication that dates back to pre-electricity days, but it is one that is fascinating the watch houses right now. Rachael Taylor handles some of the best minute repeaters on the market and discovers the charm and chimes that these timepieces have to offer.
When rolling about in bed, wondering what the time is, and whether you’ve slept in, it is a pretty simple affair to check the time and discover whether you have a few precious moments left under the duvet – simply flick the switch to a lamp or hit the glow button on a bedside clock or phone. But back before the invention of electricity, night-time clock watching was not so simple.
From all great problems rise a great solution, and the pre-electricity drama of checking the time in the dead of night was answered with the repeater clock created by Reverend Edward Barlow in 1676, powered by the rack and snail mechanism still used in minute repeaters today. The clock was designed to chime the hours then quarters then five-minute divisions, activated by the pull of a cord, so that the owner might listen in and discover what time it was without any need for light.
In 1700 the technology that had allowed clocks to tell the time in the dark was miniaturised, with great difficulty and skill, to create repeater pocketwatches. While the inventor and cleric Barlow submitted a patent for the repeater watch that year so did Somerset clockmaker Daniel Quare, who claims to have developed the movement in 1680, and the courts sided with Quare. The intricacy of creating a repeater movement small enough to be encompassed in pocket watches made these luxuries an expensive status symbol rather than a household necessity.
Over the years the repeater movement developed. Major innovations included the creation of a movement capable of ringing out individual minutes rather than five minute segments, known as the minute repeater and created by London’s John Ellicott in 1750, the swapping of a bell fixed to the back of the movement for a space-saving wire gong in 1800 by the Swiss and the world’s first minute repeater wristwatch, brought to market in 1892 by Louis Brandt.
Although these repeaters were created as a way to stay on time in a world without electric light, minute repeaters have indeed survived the invention of electricity and its integration into every modern home.
The minute repeater is still an expensive complication to produce and, as such, these chiming timepieces have retained their power as a status symbol for the wealthy. The world of mechanical watchmaking is enjoying a purple patch after being threatened with the quartz revolution and the rise of alternative digital timekeepers such as mobile phones. As such, the pendulum-like world of trends has led watch connoisseurs to seek out vintage or retro styles as fashion turns its back as violently as possible on the ultra-modern diversions that took it away from traditional timekeeping in the first place, and you don’t get much more traditional than a minute repeater.
If you consider it critically, the minute repeater is a redundant complication in our world. We don’t need to listen to the chimes to tell the time, we can instead flick a glance at the dial in full, luminous natural or unnatural light, day or night. But it’s not quite as fun, is it?
A PASSION FOR PATEK PHILIPPE
At a recent exhibition of minute repeater timepieces in London held by Patek Philippe, guests were challenged to slip on a pair of luxurious headphones, as a watchmaker in a white coat slid back the hammer of a concealed minute repeater, and tell the aforementioned expert what the time on the watch was by simply listening to the chimes.
The noise is bamboozling at first but on second listen, after a perfectly understandable explanation from the Patek Philippe technician, the mist suddenly clears and the pride sets in at being able to tot up the hours, quarters and minutes.
Minute repeaters are a real passion at Patek Philippe, with each one personally checked for sound perfection by the brand’s president Thierry Stern before being allowed to leave the manufacture.
The skill and level of quality required to bring a minute repeater to life perfectly encapsulate Patek Philippe’s brand messages, and the house continues to develop new minute repeaters, including selecting the movement for its first line of modern grand complications for women launched in 2011. The house chose to create two ladies grand complications to go on show at BaselWorld that year, one was a split-seconds chronograph and the other a beautifully crafted minute repeater.
The minute repeater is obviously still in demand, a fact demonstrated by a flurry of watch houses developing and pushing their own versions of this classic timepiece onto the market. Patek Philippe, as we have mentioned, is fanatical about the sound quality, and this is something that every house creating a minute repeater must take into account, as the dynamics of a watch and its materials can have a huge effect on the sound, for example the same mechanism inside a gold case will sound significantly different to a platinum case.
The ideal medium for a minute repeater, according to a watch expert currently readying itself to unveil the world’s thinnest minute repeater at a 2013 trade show – the details of which are under embargo until next year – would be carbon fibre, as it is a light material offering minimal resistance to sound. The watch it is developing is not in carbon fibre but gold, however the thought process behind a carbon fibre minute repeater shows that while it might be an antique complication there is still scope for innovation.
JAQUET DROZ’S HIGH FLYING BIRDS
Earlier this year Jaquet Droz released a preview of a truly innovative minute repeater that the house describes as pushing “back the boundaries of haute horlogerie”. The Bird Repeater, which has been in development for two years and was made in house, has been created in homage to Jacquet Droz founder Pierre Jaquet-Droz, who was known for his love of ornithology and automata, and the results are stunning.
The watch, which will go on show at BaselWorld next year, has a detailed enamelled dial featuring two blue tits, said to be symbolic of the Jura region in Switzerland, which are “fully animated” with one of the birds bobbing to give a beakful of food to its chicks, while the wings of the second bird spread to reveal colourful enamelling. The egg in the middle of the nest opens to reveal a chick, while the waterfall depicted in the background “flows in a continuous cascade”. It operates using a cam system and is a minute repeater that strikes the hours, quarters and minutes.
The watch has a 47mm gold case and is made of 508 components. It has a 48-hour power reserve and is available in two editions – a grey gold version set with diamonds and a second in red gold. Both are limited to eight pieces worldwide.
MODERN MASTERPIECE FROM CHRISTOPHE CLARET
This masterpiece is a nod to traditional art and craftsmanship, but the 2012 minute repeater from Christophe Claret is nothing if not modern, although the watch house says the Soprano minute repeater pays homage to the roots of the brand’s manufacture, branding it “a timepiece of contrasts” that combines traditional haute horlogerie with state-of-the-art manufacturing and the history of the English Parliament with a French King.
For the all-important chimes, the Christophe Claret has selected the Westminster Quarters four-gong minute repeater. To provide an even fuller and richer sound than standard repeaters, the Soprano features four cathedral gongs, each circling the perimeter of the movement twice (a normal gong goes around only once). The central case band is in Grade 5 titanium, a metal known for its acoustic properties and used in musical instruments.
Working with a piano tuner, Christophe Claret developed a computer program called Analyser 2000 that records and analyses the notes for pitch, duration and loudness, and even the length of the silent pauses between notes. This enables the Christophe Claret manufacture to consistently create harmonious and musically accurate melodies with strong crystalline notes.
Each cathedral gong circles the movement twice so that one coil lies just above the other. Because the coils are so close together, they can touch each other as they vibrate, which can create a disconcerting buzz. Christophe Claret invented a system that effectively avoids this problem, which was awarded a patent.
To minimise barriers to sound − and to maximiSe visual appreciation of the finely finished movement and the operation of the striking mechanism − the Soprano has no dial, which allows the beautiful melody out and showcases the tourbillon, repeater operation, mainspring barrel, winding mechanism and Charles X bridges.
The case of the Soprano has been crafted in three parts: upper and lower (bezel and caseback) sections in gold and a central titanium caseband, while the 60-second tourbillon carriage of the Soprano is on full view through the open dial at six o’clock, and is supported by a single arm stepped bridge in the Charles X style.
MANUFACTURE ROYALE’S OPERA
Another brand working on creating a striking – excuse the pun –minute repeater is Manufacture Royale, which recently showcased its wares at Salon QP and has signed up distributor Argento Fine Products to push its timepieces to retailers in the UK.
Manufacture Royale’s minute repeater offering, the Opera, has challenged its inventors on two levels – how to perfect sound and how to push minute repeater innovation forward.
Its passion for sound quality has led to the Opera to look very different to any other minute repeater on the market. The brand has created a unique extendable case that takes Sydney Opera House as its inspiration. The patented articulated case, opens and closes like the bellow of an ancient organ, to ensure that the chimes are delivered with maximum power.
As for the technical innovation, Manufacture Royale claims that the Opera is the first timepiece to combine a minute repeater with a tourbillon, providing a 108-hour power reserve.
These timepieces have price tags that stretch into hundreds of thousands of pounds, so it is certainly not an affordable complication. But good news is that, like many high-end timepieces, minute repeaters hold their value and there have been a few recent examples of some hitting the high notes at auction of late.
In April Antiquorum secured a final bid of more than £620,000 for a Patek Philippe Ref. 3971 minute repeater and then in June it scored a final price of nearly £350,000 for a Patek Philippe Ref. 5016, a tourbillon minute repeater with custom grey dial.
And the lots just keep on coming.
So it would seem that a timepiece design originating from the world before electricity still holds resonance today, and we expect to see a few more examples of this horological feat coming onto the market in the next few years.
This article was taken from the December 2012 issue of WatchPro. To read the magazine online, click here.
