As Breguet President & CEO Marc A. Hayek notes in this iW video interview, volume is not the only defining element of a great chiming watch, particularly a minute repeater.
Thus, when he and the watchmakers at Breguet years ago began to develop the Breguet Tradition Répétition Minutes Tourbillon 7087, they sought first a certain tone, a crystalline sound, that seemed clean and identifiable.
The watch’s tone was still evolving when it initially debuted last year. Now finalized with new low-register tones, and ready to reach showcases, the Tradition Répétition Minutes Tourbillon 7087 ($460,700) was created around a specific tonality, not for volume (though it’s plenty loud). The resulting chimes, he admits, can be hard to describe with mere words, yet this new model is discernably different in tone from other Breguet chiming models. That individuality is just one of many new techniques Breguet utilized when creating the 44mm Tradition Répétition Minutes Tourbillon, which features six new patents and five major new innovative elements never previously seen in a wristwatch repetition mechanism.
Before any bridges, gongs or gears were cut to make this watch, Breguet experimented with more than 200,000 combinations of frequencies, all evaluated and classified by their note combinations. The gong springs–Breguet inventions–have been entirely reworked in this new model and are based on the acoustic research conducted by Montres Breguet for more than ten years. Here the gongs are made of the same rose or white gold alloy as the case, and then rhodium-plated.
Like the earlier Breguet Classique La Musicale 7800, this new Tradition Répétition Minutes Tourbillon 7087 features an acoustic chamber built into the case that essentially increases the sound level of the minute repeater while filtering the sounds from the mechanism. You can see it through eight small holes arrayed on the lower bezel encircling the caseback.
Breguet also utilizes a magnetic strike governor just like the one it developed for that Classique La Musicale model. The system is composed of silver weights surrounded by magnets placed around the circumference of the strike governor. As they turn within this magnetic environment, the weights produce an electric current that runs counter to the magnetic field of the magnets. This too can be seen in full view on the watch’s dial side.
And don’t forget that this watch also features a tourbillon and an impressive automatic winding peripheral rotor system. Unusually, the watch is activated when the user presses ‘bayonet’ instead of by pulling the traditional case-side slide. The energy required is delivered via a chain – a transmission mode reminiscent of the famous Marie-Antoinette No. 160 pocket watch re-issued by Breguet in 2008.
