Horological Meandering

mkt33
[PuristS]
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Baselworld 2010: Jaquet Droz Grande Seconde Minute repeater

This is the second version of the minute repeater complication from Jaquet Droz.  The first version was based on a Claret movement and it was coupled with a tourbillon visible through the sapphire back.  This year J*D adds the complication to the everlasting Grande Seconde design.  Sorry I don't have anymore information on the movement currently...but it looks nice

And the usual J*D press release:

It is a rare musical sound and therefore all the more precious… In the middle of the night, listen... and let yourself be carried away by the magic of its song. Since the 18th century, people have appreciated this music of the bells signaling the passage of time. Once the prerogative of a few watch lovers, the Grande Seconde Minute Repeater is now recognized as an absolute masterpiece of fine watchmaking complications - an area to which Jaquet Droz feels compeled to apply its expertise. Tradition and innovation have driven each stage in the development of this timepiece whose design, featuring two intertwined dials, extols the Manufacture’s legendary number: the 8.

A formidable challenge because this virtuoso complication plays real music on demand, with a range of high and low notes that tell us where we are in the cycle of time. To within one minute. Two tiny hammers ring out a delicate symphony that has never ceased to fascinate lovers of fine watchmaking since the Age of Enlightenment.

Because it demands total mastery of an infinite complexity, the Grande Seconde Minute Repeater deserves the most beautiful setting. Today, Jaquet Droz presents it with an ivory Grand Feu enameled dial, unique in both tint and grain, a generously rounded case in red gold and, above all, its legendary face: the Grande Seconde.

Enjoy, Mike