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Chiming watches use minute repeaters and striking mechanisms to mark time by audibly chiming on the hour, quarter or minute. According to archives, more than half of the 1625 watches, pendants and pocket watches produced by Audemars Piguet between 1882 and 1892 incorporated chiming mechanisms.
Over the years, Audemars Piguet has continued to innovate with minute repeaters and striking mechanisms, such as the Grande Sonnerie and Petite Sonnerie, which automatically chime without the need for manual activation.
The minute repeater strikes the hours, quarters and minutes with precision and on demand. It is mechanically programmed to play 720 sequences: one sound sequence for each minute of the twelve hours displayed on a watch. Hours are indicated by low notes, minutes by high notes, and quarter hours by a combination of both. These sequences are played by hammers, which strike hardened steel gongs when the striking mechanism is activated by a latch located on the side of the case.
Audemars Piguet has specialised in minute repeaters since 1875. This function takes roots in the early days of watchmaking, long before the advent of artificial lighting.
1892
Audemars Piguet works with Louis Brandt & Frère in Bienne to create the first repeater wristwatch in history.
1882-1892
Half of the complicated timepieces produced by Audemars Piguet during this period include a repeater function.
1922-1940
Between the two World Wars, Audemars Piguet produces 22 Art Deco style repeater wristwatches.
1945-1960
Seven round wristwatches are created and equipped with miniature repeater calibres developed between 1886 and 1930. These watches reflect the style of their time, while remaining still strikingly contemporary.
1960-1992
The minute repeater is once again used exclusively in pocket watches.
1992-2002
Models 25723 and 25725 open up a new golden age for chiming wristwatches.
2015
After eight years of research, the RD#1 prototype sees the light.
2016
The limited-production series Royal Oak Concept Supersonnerie is commercialised.
2023
The Code 11.59 by Audemars Piguet Universelle incorporates 40 functions, including 23 complications, among which a Grande Sonnerie Supersonnerie, a minute repeater, a perpetual calendar, a split-seconds flyback chronograph and a flying tourbillon.
In addition to striking the hours, quarters and minutes on demand as a traditional minute repeater would, a Grande Sonnerie, like a bell tower, automatically strikes the hours and each quarter hour.
Considered as one of the most sophisticated and complex complications, the Grande Sonnerie has remained quite rare to this day. Today, only a handful of specialised watchmakers at Audemars Piguet are trained to assemble and adjust a Grande Sonnerie.
The Grande Sonnerie is the acme of chiming watches. Like an orchestra, the synchronisation of components has to be perfect to guarantee the automatic chiming of the hours and quarters.
Lucas Raggi
Development Director
Audemars Piguet introduced its patented Supersonnerie technology in 2015, following 8 years of research and development in collaboration with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL).
The Royal Oak Concept Supersonnerie presents a newly developed case construction that prevents sound absorption and boosts amplification. In traditional minute repeater technology, the gongs are fixed to the plate. In the Royal Oak Concept Supersonnerie, they are attached to a new device that acts as a soundboard, to which they transmit vibrations directly. The technology functions like the upper body of a guitar. With the vibration air system improved, sound quality, tone and amplification are richer.
In Calibre 1000 the gongs are now attached to the 0.6mm sapphire crystal membrane acting as a soundboard, while the caseback can be opened by an extra-thin "secret" cover, which also features apertures on the side to let air through and boost sound amplification when the watch sits on the wrist.
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It takes ingenuity and precision to strike the perfect chord. Discover the secrets behind chiming complications with Lucas Raggi, Development Director, and Sébastian Vivas, Heritage and Museum Director.
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