“Sound” Investments: 6 Notable Minute Repeaters and Chiming Watches

One of the most difficult watch complications to produce, a minute repeater transforms a discount Cartier replica watches from mere timekeeping device to miniature music box. Below we take a look at 6 minute repeaters — and other, even more sophisticated chiming watches — that are more than just bells and whistles.

The newest version of the A. Lange & Söhne Zeitwerk Striking Time has a rose-gold case and hands and a silver dial. Unlike most repeaters and other chiming watches, it has its chiming mechanism integrated into the dial design. The black-polished steel hammers are located on either side of the large small-seconds subdial at 6 o’clock. The hammer on the right strikes the quarter hours and the one on the left, the full hours. The two gongs, embedded in a recess between the dial and the bezel, are also visible from the dial side. Every 15 minutes, the mechanism triggers the striking of one of the gongs — three high-pitched chimes for each quarter hour and one low-pitched chime for the top of every full hour. The watch has a device that can deactivate the chiming mechanism whenever the owner wishes to not be disturbed by it: Simply press the push-piece at 4 o’clock and the hammers raise away from the gongs and hold in place, thus silencing the watch.

A. Lange & Sohne Zeitwerk Striking Time rose gold

The Audemars Piguet Tradition Tourbillon Minute Repeater Chronograph is available in a very limited edition of 10 pieces each for both versions, a rose gold and a titanium model. The titanium version, the company says, is ideally suited for the watch’s highest complication, the minute repeater, which strikes on two gongs. As many may not be aware, the quality of the sound emitted by a repeater fake watches for men is largely dependent on both the case material and the case’s dimensions. Larger cases (the Tradition Tourbillon Minute Repeater Chronograph’s is 47 mm in diameter) and lighter, harder materials (such as titanium) are best suited to maximize the sound volume of the chimes by allowing the acoustic waves to expand inside the case.

Audemars Piguet Tradition Tourbillon Minute Repeater Chronograph

At the push of a button (located at 10 o’clock), or when it strikes a pre-set time, the Breguet Ref. 7800 Classique “La Musicale” plays Bach’s “Badinerie.” Its musical mechanism resembles a music box, utilizing a disk with pegs that strike the 15 blades of the “keyboard.” A membrane made of Swatch’s LiquidMetal fitted under the movement amplifies the sound while maintaining water resistance.

Breguet Classique La Musicale

The Bulgari Brighella, the first in its series of “Commedia del’ Arte” watches, is equipped with a cathedral-gong minute repeater (operated by a slide at 10 o’clock) with two hammers, along with a jumping hour and retrograde minutes display. When the watch’s chime sounds, the characters on the dial begin moving in choreographed, balletic motions. The case is made of 18k white gold and an alloy called Magsonic, developed to amplify the resonance of the repeater’s chimes.

Bulgari Commedia del’Arte Brighella

One of the highlight pieces of SIHH 2014, the Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Ultra Thin Minute Repeater Flying Tourbillon is the eleventh creation in the brand’s Hybris Mechanica collection and the first ultra-thin Grand Complication model. The watch is very slim for a minute repeater, at just 7.9 mm thin. It is also equipped with an original tourbillon, a high-performance new balance spring, a peripheral automatic winding system, a retractable single push-button, and a minute repeater equipped with a silent-timelapse reduction system. The replica watches for sale is equipped with two patented trebuchet hammers that ensure stronger, cleaner striking on the two crystal gongs fixed to the sapphire crystal, which helps to amplify the sound diffusion. Instead of a traditional slide, the minute repeater is activated by a retractable, single push-button, for which Jaeger-LeCoultre has filed a patent, with a discreet locking system at 8 o’clock.

Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Ultra Thin Minute Repeater Flying Tourbillon - Perspective

The Jaquet Droz Bird Repeater is inspired by the brand’s namesake, Pierre Jaquet-Droz, known for his automaton creations, which often featured birds. A push-button triggers the minute repeater, which strikes the hours, quarters, and minutes as the birds on the dial come to life. The system uses a cathedral gong whose resonant, mellow tones are generated by two turns around the mechanism.

Jaquet Droz Bird Repeater

The Speedmaster Mark 4.5 Financed By The Spy Who Loved Me

Nick, Speedmaster enthusiast and avid Speedy Tuesday reader, fell in love with Omega’s Speedmaster after he Swiss Rolex replica watches the 1969 moon landing as a teenager while being in France. When he turned 21, he received a ’71 Omega Speedmaster Professional ‘Moonwatch’ as a birthday gift from his dad.

Unfortunately, a couple of years later (1974) when Nick worked in the movie industry in the United Kingdom, the watch was stolen on the set of Intimate Reflections. While this movie – as Nick puts is – was an infinitely forgettable film, it did launch his career in the industry. Besides his watch, also his brand new Nikon F2 camera was stolen from the set.

Omega Speedmaster Profesisonal - Nick's 1979 replacement watch

Nick explains that he had to take his Speedmaster watch off whilst loading a new roll of film using a Black Bag which had to be light-proof. The Black Bag was an essential item for a ‘Clapper-Loader’ (2nd. Camera Assistant) whereby you could transfer a new 400’/1,000′ roll of Eastmancolor film to and from a camera magazine ( i.e. Panavision or Arriflex camera). The exposed film being sent to the laboratories for processing into ‘the rushes/dailies’. The Black Bag was useful for location work, when access to a studio darkroom was impossible. However the hand-access sleeves of the black bag were very restrictive and as the film was highly sensitive to light, it was necessary to remove your watch (especially if it emitted a powerful ‘lume’ from the dial). On that day Nick didn’t have time to put the watch back on as he had to race back to the set to re-load the camera. It was only unattended for seconds-but that’s all it takes!

Although his first Moonwatch is now probably owned by someone who doesn’t know he is wearing a stolen watch, Nick keeps hope that the thief tosses and turns with guilt as it was very valuable to him. He doesn’t not have the serial number of the cheap Swiss fake watches, otherwise we could do a ‘call’ among our readers to find it.

Nick was mortified as the Moonwatch he received from his father wasn’t insured. At that moment, he couldn’t afford to buy another one.

Full package of the Omega Speedmaster Mark 4.5

In 1976, when he worked on the James Bond film ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’ things changed though. It gave him the funds – although it was still a lot of money for a watch – to buy another Speedmaster. In 1977, he came across this Omega dealer in Tottenham, North London, when he suddenly noticed this beautiful Omega Speedmaster Mark 4.5 (with caliber 1045 movement) sitting in the window. He was captivated by the Speedmaster Mark 4.5 ref. 176.0012 and after he convinced his new bride that he really needed to buy this watch, it was his.

This Omega Speedmaster Mark 4.5 watch was treasured by Nick ever since and when the chronograph function started to play up last December, he decided the watch deserved an expensive spa. The men’s fake watches has been completely overhauled and looks like it was just bought on that day in 1977 again.

Eventually, Nick also bought an Omega Speedmaster Professional ‘Moonwatch’ that came close to the original one he got from his dad. He loves both watches but decided to put the Speedmaster Mark 4.5 up for sale on eBay, including all original boxes and paperwork. Although I’ve tried to persuade him not to sell it, the watch will go if it hits the right amount of money. As a Speedmaster nut, he wants to own the Holy Grail Speedmaster with the same Lemania 5100 based movement as the Omega Speedmaster Mark 4.5 but with the typical ‘Moonwatch’ design.

OmegaSpeedmasterMark45-7

As we did a write-up on the Omega Speedmaster Mark 4.5 on several occasions I won’t go into technical details of the watch. The Mark series started with the Mark II in 1969 and ended with the Mark V that was introduced in 1984. The Omega Speedmaster Mark 4.5 is actually an unofficial name, as it was just called Speedmaster Automatic. Obviously, the Mark 4.5 nick name was given to the watch due to the shape (Mark IV) of the discount Swiss replica watches and the Lemania 5100 movement (Mark V).

We would like to thank Nick for his remarkable story about his stolen Moonwatch and the ‘replacement’ Omega Speedmaster Mark 4.5 that he was able to buy due to the Spy Who Loved Me movie in 1976.

Orbita Sempre is Automatic Watch Winder for Manual-Wind Watches

During our annual visits to Orbita at the various Omega replica watches and jewelry trade shows, we always see an impressive collection of new and existing winders of all sizes, holding anywhere from a single watch to as many as 48. And of course, the vast majority of these Orbita watch winders — and most other watch winders — are equipped to supply power to automatic (that is, self-winding) watches by rotating them at regular intervals so the rotors in the watches’ movements can continually supply energy to their mainsprings. But what about replica watches uk that don’t have rotors… and whose mainspring can only be wound via the watch’s crown?

Fortunately, thanks to Orbita’s cleverly engineered Sempre model, owners of manual-wind timepieces have a winder made specifically for their needs. The Orbita Sempre is, according to the company, the only such winder on the market. It is intended to wind, without ever overwinding, virtually any manually wound mechanical watch. How this Orbita watch winder accomplishes this feat is with a system of precision collets (basically, mechanical fingers) that grasp the watch’s crown and replicate the action of finger winding. As it does so, an ingenious microprocessor control senses the increasing resistance as the mainspring is being wound and automatically stops winding when the watch approaches the fully wound state.  The Orbita Sempre is in a single ($2,995) or double ($4,995) model, in either burl or black leather finish. Collectors with weary fingers from the daily ritual of keeping their replica watches for men running perpetually might wish to give these a look.

Orbita Sempre watch winder

Corum Admiral’s Cup Legend 42 Colette – Thomas Erber

For one week only Corum joins the famous Parisian concept store Colette and the artist Thomas Erber and creates a Limited Edition of 10 timepieces. The brand takes up residence at 213 rue Saint-Honoré, in Paris, with a cheap replica watches special showcase, representing a fairytale-like chalet in an abstract form.

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The structure draws its inspiration from the “Style Sapin”; a decorative art form from the La Chaux-de-Fonds of the early twentieth century, and is made of a natural larch wood and steel structure constructed with the codes of the Corum Admiral’s Cup collection.

Thomas Erber is working on developing his ‘cabinet de curiositis’, which are exported all around the world and in which he presents the new trends and designers of the moment. In a contemporary approach, Thomas Erber explores all areas of creation; from fashion to fine Cartier replica watchmaking, through to design, music, and also travel.

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For the Admiral’s Cup Legend 42 Colette – Thomas Erber, Corum has revisited the codes of the timepiece and reinterpreted it in metallic shades. Its twelve-sided case from 42 mm, in brushed steel, houses an automatic movement caliber CO 395.

The hour markers are shown traditionally Swiss replica watches by the nautical pennants while the matt dial displays the minute indicators which are treated in Superluminova. A small seconds counter with the personalized initials of Thomas Erber positioned at 6 o’clock, hosts an indigo blue luminescent hand Colette store’s color. The Limited Edition of 10 timepieces is exclusively distributed at Colette.