If there’s one common saying that sums up the genre of chiming watches, it’s this: There’s levels to this.
In other words, there are multiple types of chiming watches — mechanical watches that use a system of hammers and gongs to audibly give the time using different tones for hours, quarter-hours and minutes.
The simplest is the sonnerie au passage, as seen on Christopher Ward’s Bel Canto. This watch chimes once an hour, on the hour. Far more complicated are the big three: minute repeater, petite sonnerie and grande sonnerie.
A minute repeater chimes the hour, quarter-hour and minutes on demand using a pusher. A petite sonnerie automatically chimes the hour every hour, and the quarter-hour every 15 minutes without repeating the hour. Then there’s the most complex, the grande sonnerie, which automatically chimes the hour every hour and every quarter-hour, along with the appropriate quarter-hour.
One brand that has mastered chiming mechanisms is Chopard, with numerous outstanding examples in its haute L.U.C. line. The brand’s latest is its most complicated yet, as it combines all three prestigious chiming complications into one seriously impressive watch.
