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Minute Repeater.
Ulysse Nardin was one of the earliest manufacturers to fuel the rebirth of the
minute repeater.
The minute repeater was made even more unique through the inclusion of animated
figures called "Jaquemarts" on the dial and to this day, Ulysse Nardin remains among
the rare manufacture in the world to use Jaquemarts on the dial of its wristwatch
minute repeaters.
Minute repeaters are universally considered some of the most difficult watches to
create. While the strike train – comprised of a separate strike barrel, regulator, racks,
snail cams, strikes, hammers and gongs – is complex, it is not this complexity that is
the greatest challenge in creating a superb repeater. The real challenge is related to
sound quality. A repeater's song comes from the vibration of the gong when struck by
the hammer and is amplified by the watch case.
Today, despite the significant advances in spark-erosion and CNC technology, minute
repeaters cannot be industrialized. A repeater is as much a musical instrument as it is a
timekeeper. While modern technology allows extensive scientific analysis of repeaters
by measuring their decibel level, the song of a repeater – the magic that makes one
repeater sound so sublime – is by nature qualitative rather than quantitative and thus
is highly dependent on the human ear. For this reason each minute repeater must be
individually tuned by a master watchmaker. The process can be arduous : tone is often
adjusted by removing a small amount of metal from the gongs, but each time this is
done the movement must be re-cased since the sound can only be properly tested
when the watch is complete. There simply is no way around this. Each completed
and perfectly-tuned minute repeater that leaves Ulysse Nardin is reflective of a truly
massive investment in human endeavour.
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