Girard-Perregaux 1966 Minute Repeater

The New Face of Tradition Girard-Perregaux

Girard-Perregaux - 1966 Minute Repeater Limited Edition

A masterpiece of elegance and technology, the Girard-Perregaux 1966 Minute Repeater unveils a magnificent mechanism that produces an intense sound. Its acoustic merits and the purity of its lines rely on over 220 years of tradition and excellence. The timepiece symbolises all the expertise of a brand that pushes back the boundaries of watchmaking with grandes complications.
 

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It is one of the few watches to combine mechanical excellence with exceptional musical qualities to such a degree. The Girard-Perregaux 1966 Minute Repeater model pays homage to the most prestigious of Haute Horlogerie traditions. Pure design, noble materials and a beautiful complication: the piece displays all the signs of an exceptional timepiece.

Its classic, elegant exterior houses one of the greatest of grandes complications: the minute repeater. The invention of repeater watches was originally intended to meet the need to strike the hours during the night before the existence of electric lighting. Today, the charm of striking the hours, quarters and minutes makes it one of the best-loved complications for enthusiasts of beautiful watchmaking.

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The construction of the Girard-Perregaux 1966 Minute Repeater watch fully respects the great watchmaking tradition. The creation of the sound relies on a device that requires the presence of two circular gongs coiled inside the case and small hammers that strike them at regular intervals. In order to create a vibration to produce the sound that comes closest to perfection, the tuning of the chimes remains one of the most delicate elements; one that Girard-Perregaux takes particular care in refining.

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The watch's special design required thorough research into acoustic qualities. In particular, the Manufacture worked on three construction points on the case. The diameter of the calibre and the interior diameter of the case are perfectly balanced, a ratio that guarantees maximum resonance. The case-back is curved in order to increase the volume of air between the movement and the case, which significantly improves the propagation of the sound. Finally, the lower part of the case-back is diamond-polished, an operation that allows acoustic interference to be reduced.

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In order to further highlight the nobility of the timepiece, craftsmen have taken great care over every aesthetic detail. The white enamel dial exhibits absolute restraint. The leaf-shaped blued hands and applied hour markers bear the unmistakable mark of purity. The watch contains a hand-wound mechanical movement equipped with a power reserve of over 4 days, housed in a pink-gold case with a diameter of 42 mm.

Combined with its unique decoration and finishes, the watch is the most successful expression of a minimalistic philosophy. The desire for aesthetics is taken to the extreme. The master watchmakers have chosen a half-arrow shape recalling the gold Bridges, the brand's signature, in order to perfect the balance bridge of this meticulously decorated and rounded calibre. Rounding consists of filing the extremities of the arms in a perfectly regular manner in order to give them a semi-cylindrical shape, while at the same time respecting the delimitation of the centre and heels. In order to finalise the operation, the craftsmen smooth it using stones, buffs, pegwoods and diamond pastes in order to obtain perfect rounding. All the movement parts require the same care, thus blending function and design in a perfectly coherent relationship

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 Though not a true Limited Edition, production is nonetheless exclusive by virtue of the fact that Girard-Perregaux can produce only about 15 to 20 pieces per year. The price is SFr. 250,000.

Girard-Perregaux 1966 Minute Repeater

Technical specifications

Girard-Perregaux E09-0001 movement

Mechanical with manual winding

Display: hours, minutes, small seconds

Dimensions: 14¼’’’ - 32 mm

Total height: 5.36 mm

Number of components: 317

Jewels: 27

Power reserve: minimum100 hours

Winding: manual  Variable inertia balance wheel "Rounded" gold balance bridge, half-arrow type

Frequency: 21,600 vibrations / hour (3 Hz)

Mainplate: rhodium-plated and circular-grained

Bridges: Côtes de Genève, polished re-entrant angles

Striking mechanism with two opposing hammers, hours, quarter hours, minutes

Striking-mechanism speed regulation via inertia wheel, countersprings accessible on the bridge side, inverted minutes rack; conventional striking gongs.

Strap in full black matt alligator

Pink gold ardillon buckle

Numbered edition

Reference 99650-52-711-BK6A
 Labels: Girard-Perregaux 1966 Minute Repeater SIHH Macaluso

 www.thenewfaceoftradition.com

 

BULGARI - Daniel Roth Carillon Tourbillon

BULGARI - Daniel Roth Carillon Tourbillon NEW


Daniel Roth Carillon Tourbillon, an original three-hammer Minute Repeater with a pure, contemporary face. Its new calibre, entirely made in-house by Bulgari, features excellent acoustics and an original design.

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Within the field of complicated horology, striking watches are still the most difficult of all to make and consequently the most exclusive. Bulgari belongs to the select circle of brands capable of handling from A to Z the production of these distinctive and complex watches. The new Daniel Roth Carillon Tourbillon provides a brilliant demonstration of this accomplished expertise.

This creation is the result of several years of meticulous development. Its distinctive nature stems from a three-hammer striking mechanism, which is a fairly unusual configuration in this type of model. Striking watches generally comprise two hammers for Minute Repeaters, or four in the far rarer case of Grande Sonnerie or “grand strike” models.

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The hand-wound DR3300 calibre is deliberately generously proportioned (34.60 mm x 31.60 mm) and entirely crafted in-house. It comprises a total of 327 parts and beats to the rhythm of a Tourbillon-type regulating organ housed within a large-sized carriage.


TARGETING OPTIMAL TONE

The construction of Calibre DR3300 was governed by a number of precise and specific parameters, first and foremost dedicated to achieving ideal tone. The force and clarity of the tone are sensitive issues on all striking watches. Given the degree of miniaturisation required for this type of watch, a good-size calibre together with three hammers gives them higher torque and thereby enhances acoustic resonance. The set of three gongs fixed to the mainplate is coupled with an inertia governor that keeps friction to a minimum when the striking mechanism is in action, thus avoiding any audio interference.

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BIG FOTO - BULGARI - Daniel Roth Carillon Tourbillon 



In the case of the Carillon Tourbillon, the gongs are meticulously and individually crafted in multiple stages. These entirely hand-made special-form gongs ensure perfect and absolutely identical sound quality. They are bent and shaped by hand, annealed (or hardened) at a temperature of 900°C, and then cleaned before being fired again at 500°C – an operation that gives the metal its crystal-clear resonance. After the various cleaning and polishing operations, they are fitted onto the movement, before final adjustments are made. They are placed lengthwise and their thickness may be corrected with a file, along with toothing on the driving levers – all of which is designed to perfect the resulting musical tone.

The melodic sequence of this 3-hammer Minute Repeater striking three different pitches plays a C note for the hours, an E-D-C sequence for the quarter-hours, and a single E note for the minutes.

The movement is of course equipped with two barrels: one ensures the smooth running of the striking mechanism and is automatically wound when the latter is activated; while the other, when fully wound, guarantees the movement at least 75 hours of power reserve. Its state-of-wind is signalled by a corresponding indicator on the dial.

A SLENDER AND BEAUTIFUL MECHANISM

The architecture of Calibre 3300, the delicately cut-out shape of the bridges and the positioning of the various components were designed to be original, contemporary and to strike a fine contrast in order to highlight the slender beauty of the mechanism. The meticulous finishes alternate between polished steel for the hammers, gongs, and tourbillon carriage, and open-worked surfaces; while the finely decorated mainplate and bridges are coated with an elegant NAC surface treatment, an alloy exclusively composed of noble metals belonging to the platinum family (platinoids): platinum, rhodium, ruthenium and indium. This high-tech coating which is hard to achieve through associating these four metals, gives the metal an elegant black colour.

This construction is revealed through the sapphire crystal dial that is structured and cut-out to reveal the striking mechanism and the Tourbillon. It is protected by a pink gold case with a Minute Repeater slidepiece on its left-hand side and which slides along an unusual zone between 7 and 11 o’clock. The winding crown is individually engraved with numbers from 1 to 30, matching the fact that each of the 30 watches in this limited edition fitted with a transparent sapphire-crystal back and water-resistant to 30 metres. This elegant model is teamed with a brown alligator leather strap secured by a triple-blade folding clasp in 18-carat pink gold.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS:

MOVEMENT
Calibre DR3300, hand-wound 327 parts, three-hammer Minute Repeater & Tourbillon with large 13 mm carriage; silent inertia governor; NAC surface treatment on the bridges and mainplate, bridges adorned with sunburst engraving, polished and chamfered steel parts, polished screw heads, gold-plated gear wheels.
Frequency: 21,600 vph (3 Hz)
Power reserve: 75 hours
35 jewels
FUNCTIONS
Hours & minutes, seconds, power-reserve indication
CASE
18K pink gold case measuring 43 mm in diameter, transparent sapphire crystal caseback; individually numbered 18K pink gold crown
DIAL
Manufacture-made sapphire dial with a special cut-out highlighting the hammers and the Tourbillon
WATER RESISTANCE
30 metres
STRAP
Alligator leather strap equipped with a triple-blade pink gold folding clasp

 www.Bulgari.com