Time is money, pressure, a commodity to be allocated and preserved, a
target for demands - not least in the process of getting from A to B.
But time is also nothing if not elegantly spent, as some quotable dandy
really ought to have said, a view that is
essential to adopt at least as a carapace against the demands of a busy
life. It is also an outlook that is crucial to maintain when choosing a
watch, unless of course your idea of a desirable watch includes it being
radio controlled from some atomic clock located in Frankfurt or Rugby.
Accuracy, it should be said, is a diversion. On the contrary, the truly
elegant watch is imbued with enough error to allow its owner the chance
to use it and change it, even to interact with it. The perfectly
accurate watch, by contrast, is simply another tinpot dictator whose
every tick we must adhere to. If you are to be master of your time, and
that is surely the most basic of goals, you will need to choose a watch
that you control, that depends on you. This, by the way, is not to
celebrate the inferior or even to accept less than the highest standard
of watch-making.
For most, it is enough to assert their independence and selfcontrol with
a basic automatic watch that pleasingly requires intervention at least
on a weekly, if not monthly basis. For those able to exercise a little
more detachment and mastery of their lives, there is the classic
hand-wound watch that requires daily contact, such watches typically
having a winding reserve of around 40 hours.
Of course, understanding that watches might tell you more about how time
is rather than what is the time is but a first step and says little
about the innate desirability that the finest watches engender. The
fascination with perfect little machines is perfectly summed up in the
adver tising campaign currently being run by Breguet that most
illustrious of watch-making houses. The adverts use quotes referring to
Breguet watches from across a wide spectrum of 19th and 20th Century
literature that ranges from Tolstoy and Balzac to Patrick O'Brian. In
each case the message is conveyed that the watches are more than just
instruments, that they have an attraction all of their own. There is
almost nothing made today that manages to include so much that is rare
and sought after than a watch whether the perfection of the movement
inside, the costliness of the materials, the craftsmanship or the
design. Of the vast variety of watch types and shapes, there is one
particular type that is sans-pareil, the ne plus ultra. In O'Brian's
Master And Commander series the, watch that guards the hero through the
sleepless nights is a minute repeater, the peak of the watchmakers art.
Usually activated by a slider on the edge of the case, these watches
chime out the time on miniature gongs embedded within the movement,
adding a rare and different dimension of interest. Produced in
vanishingly small numbers, these watches are emblematic of all that is
desirable in a watch.
Their rarity alone is enough to elicit desire and is a natural
consequence of the skill and time needed to produce one rather than any
artificial decision to limit numbers by the watch houses. There is
another consequence to the difficulty in making these watches, which is
cost. Typical modern examples, usually made by the grands maisons, of
the industry will cost upwards of £60,000, with sought after pieces
commanding auction values of £100,000 and more.
So what is so complex and special about minute repeaters that makes them
so difficult and expensive to produce? The watchmaker's art is bound up
in the
miniaturisation and perfection of mechanisms that are hard enough to
realise at larger scales. The addition of a striking mechanism takes the
idea to its most extreme, requiring levels of skill and craftsmanship
that are in short supply in even in Switzerland. Just examine the
process that must take place for a watch to chime the time correctly.
Minute repeaters indicate the time by striking hours, quarter hours and
minutes on a pair of differently pitched gongs, of which more later.
When the slider is pushed a complex chain is activated starting with a
way for the mechanism to know which strikes to make and an "all or
nothing" spring that ensures the watch has enough power to ring the
complete cycle. The mechanism includes a toothed rack, the precise
position of which changes in the movement with time so that when
operated, the teeth trip the hammers to strike the correct number of
hour, quarter and minute strikes. As each element requires both power
and utmost precision, there is an array of control mechanisms that
regulate the process.
Actually fabricating the hundreds of components that make up the
movement of a minute repeater is, for the most part,a relatively simple
process, although the value that these watches command mean that even
the most minor components are finished to an exceptional level.There is
one major exception and that is producing the gongs used to sound the
time, long and thin in profile. Usually visible around the edge of the
case, the gongs produce remarkably clear tones when struck, but how they
achieve this is one of the most closely guarded secrets in watch-making.
Suffice to say that the sonority of the gongs is a function of shape,
the use of rare alloys and even the way the gong is attached to the
case. Once fitted the gongs are then tuned to the particular case they
will sit, a crucial moment as the case works as a sound box, amplifying
and subtly altering the tone produced.
The last process touches on the most difficult stage in the production
of a minute repeater - assembling and regulating the whole so that it
actually works. Those few able to deploy the skill and concentration
required are much sought after by the watchmaking houses and much
respected by their peers.
Knowing a little of the complexity that makes these watches so rare and
costly is, however, no substitute for seeing and hearing them in the
flesh. Shown on these pages are examples from some of the most
prestigious names in the industry including Audemars Piguet, Breguet,
and Vacheron Constantin. The Audemars watch is, in fact, more than a
minute repeater, as it is able to chime the hours "en passant" as would
a tower clock. What should be clear from all these watches is that the
makers clearly understand that is the mechanism that is the story so
that while the cases may be gold or platinum, there is not an excess
diamond in sight.
So if you can and would take the ultimate step to take control of time,
I can suggest no better than a minute repeater to accompany your
travels. It may ignore your changes of time zone but it will keep your
time in unsurpassable style. |