The minute repeater, a complication both highly complex and nostalgically romantic, once again takes center stage with a slew of new watches from some of horology’s most illustrious brands.
In the A. Lange & Söhne Grand Complication, the minute repeater has a grande and petite sonnerie, the perpetual calendar is accurate until the year 2100 without an adjustment, moving forward all indicators (barring the moon phase) at midnight, and the monopusher split-second chronograph is accurate to a fifth of a second. This 50mm pink gold timepiece is limited to just six pieces (about $2.55 million).
The MasterGraff Minute Repeater from diamond house Graff beautifully blends the brand’s iconic “faceted” 47mm case in rose or white gold with a black, navy, or white mother-of-pearl dial carved with a radial sunburst design.
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The self-winding watch has an 80-hour power reserve and the hallmark inverted triangle indicator at 12 o’clock (price available upon request).
Martin Leggatt at Graff in London
44-207-584-8571
www.graffdiamonds.com
Blancpain is the first watch company to create a self-winding watch that brings together a carousel and minute repeater function with a flyback chronograph complication.
The Carrousel Répétition Minutes Chronographe Flyback watch, part of the Le Brassus collection, is housed in a 45mm rose gold case and has a 65-hour power reserve ($449,600).
The Roger Dubuis Hommage Minute Repeater watch has an icy hot luxury look. It’s home to a minute repeater but also features two micro-rotors in platinum and a flying tourbillon that sits slightly offcenter between 5 and 6 o’clock.
The combination of a pink gold case and gray open-work dial makes for an intriguing blend in this 45mm timepiece, which is limited to just eight pieces ($419,000).
The dashing, 42mm Midnight Minute Repeater from Harry Winston is limited to 20 pieces in rose gold and 20 in white gold.
The black satin-brushed dial, with a large cutaway to expose the repeater’s hammers, plus off-center hour and minute indicators, lends an edgy spirit ($298,200).
Only six lucky collectors will call the 44mm gray titanium Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Grande Complication their own.
This is the first Royal Oak watch to get the grand complication treatment, complete with a minute repeater, splitsecond chronograph and perpetual calendar functions ($710,700 to $756,000).
Leave it to Hublot to “sportify” the refined minute repeater movement: The brand’s Big Bang Minute Repeater Tourbillon features a 44mm carbon fiber case and bezel, plus a matching black rubberbacked crocodile strap. Limited to only 20 pieces, the manual-wind watch has a 120-hour power reserve and a dramatic skeleton ruthenium dial ($299,000).
Inspired by 16th-century Italian theater, Bulgari’s Commedia Dell’Arte minute repeater features three figures representing the iconic Harlequin, Pulcinella, and Brighella characters.
When the watch’s gongs are activated, the figures come to life, to play a harp or a violin, for example, inside the54mm 18K white gold case (price available upon request).
For a traditional-looking minute repeater, it’s hard to beat Breguet’s 40mm Classique “Grande Complicaton.”
The white gold dial is home to perpetual calendar and moon phase indicators, with the leap year indicator visible as a subdial at 8 o’clock. Available in white or rose gold, the watch touts a 40-hour power reserve and display case back ($313,700).
Manufactured totally in house, the Emperador Coussin Ultra-Thin Minute Repeater features Caliber 1290P—Piaget’s first minute repeater movement—which took a team of six engineers three years to create.
The 48mm rose gold watch has a platinum micro-rotor, as well as an optional hour jump at the end of each hour, so the minute repeater gongs ring out the exact time, down to the nearest second (price available upon request).
