Telling time by the minute: A Guide to Minute Repeaters

It's a sight to see. It's a sound to hear. The monkey banters with the clown at the hour chime, the trainer swishes his whip at the tiger indicating the quarters and the tiger stretches its paws out indicating the minutes. The moment the lever is activated, Ulysse Nardin's Circus Aventurine Minute Repeater comes alive. The gongs are harmonic, the dial is richly animated and the combination makes this limited edition timepiece a horological marvel. There is something about minute repeaters that leaves us watch aficionados in awe - to hold the watch up close to enjoy the chimes, to peer at the movement to see it dance. But this complication has a fascinating tale. A tale that deserves to be retold.

Complication talk

What is a minute repeater? It is a complication in a mechanical watch or clock where the current time is announced by way of sound, down to the last minute. First the hour, then the quarter hour and every minute is pronounced by a combination of sounds by activating a button, slide or lever.

The hour tone is usually low, with the pitch going higher while indicating quarter hours and minutes. If the time is 7:20 a.m. or p.m., the minute repeater first sounds the seven hours, then one tone for the first quarter hour and ends with five chimes for the extra five minutes.

The musical journey

How does one tell time in the dark? At a time when artificial light was not widely prevalent, clocks and watches were made to chime the time out. English cleric Reverend Edward Barlow is said to have invented the repeating clock in 1676 with the innovation of his rack and snail striking mechanism.

In 1700, Daniel Quare was credited with the invention of a repeating watch, a more complex task of fitting in wire gongs, bells and striking works in a smaller pocket case.

While it first started with hour indicators, it went on to quarter hours, half-quarter hours, five minutes and then chimes to the last minute.

When light spread around the world, the importance of repeaters dipped, but its complex mechanism made it the most sought after complication in horology. Even today, the most pioneering international brands experiment and innovate with their minute repeaters, adding wondrous chimes to a mechanism that started with a simple ‘gong'.

One must, however, take note that a repeater is different from a striking clock or watch because unlike the latter, a repeater tells you the time on demand.

Types of repeaters

Repeater or Hour Repeater: A watch that indicates the number of hours. Two gongs for 2 a.m. or 2 p.m, eleven gongs for 11 a.m. or 11 p.m. and so on.

Quarter Hour Repeater: Chimes to first indicate the hour and then the quarter hour. For example, if the time is 4:10 a.m. or p.m., there are four chimes to indicate the hour and one chime to indicate the first quarter hour of the current time. There is a distinct sound to differentiate the two.

Half-Quarter Hour Repeater: Sounds the time to half a quarter hour, i.e. 7 ½ minutes. For 6:25, the repeater watch will first sound six tones for the hour, one tone for the quarter hour and then another different one to indicate that more than half of the second quarter hour has passed.

Five Minute Repeater: An advanced version that first strikes the hour and then the number of five-minute periods passed. 5:25 will be five tones and five more to indicate the 25 minutes past 5.

Decimal Repeater: Indicates the minutes like a minute repeater but after sounding the hours and ten minute intervals rather than quarter hours.

Fascinating few

Breguet Reine de Naples Wristwatch Grande Complication: This elaborate complication marks the hours automatically “every hour on the hour with two strikes, repeated three times, a charming and discreet way of signalling the passage of time.”

Audemars Piguet Millenary Hand-wound Minute Repeater: This timepiece's three-dimensional architecture reveals the new AP movement, a double balance-spring and the striking mechanism and its gongs.

Ulysse Nardin ‘Alexander the Great' Minute Repeater Westminster Carillon Tourbillon Jaquemarts: The Westminster has four gongs, each with a different tone (Mi-Do-Re-Sol). Also, all movement parts are decorated, angled and finished by hand.

Blancpain Le Brassus Minute Repeater Carrousel: Its features include a self winding, secured movement, white grand feu enamelled dial and a cathedral gong.

Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Répétition Minutes à Rideau: Latest minute repeater from the brand that is driven by an artfully executed Venetian blind covering the dial, which upon being slid back activates the repeater mechanism which in turn sounds the given time, counting hours, quarter hours and minutes by the sound.

Seiko's Credor Spring Drive Minute Repeater: The mechanism that produces the sound is not made of just any steel. It has been specially forged by a celebrated master Japanese steelmaker to resemble that of the famous Myochin wind bell.

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