Elizabeth Doerr, co-founder of Quill & Pad, presents seven new chiming watches you’ll want to flaunt in 2018.    

Chiming watches evolved from a need to know the time at all hours – even when the sun doesn’t shine. Super-LumiNova wasn’t around in the Middle Ages, so, without any way for townsfolk to see the clock tower at night, the hand struck a bell to signify the hour.

The idea was later adapted to portable timekeepers after the balance spring was invented. More often than not, a slide in the case band is used to wind and activate the repeating mechanism. One such kind, a minute repeater, chimes out the hours, quarter-hours and minutes, with the strikes differentiated by hammers and gongs that ring in unique or even double (ding-dong) tones.

In addition to being among the rarest luxury timepieces, wristwatches with striking complications are among the hardest to manufacture. As Ulysse Nardin’s late owner, Rolf Schnyder, once said, “The real challenge is the sound quality. Despite significant advances in technology today, minute repeaters cannot be industrialised, and a minute repeater is as much a musical instrument as it is a timekeeper.”

He would likely be proud of the Swiss brand’s Hourstriker Pin-Up. The hand-painted dial depicts a burlesque dancer who cheekily reveals glimpses of herself when the hammer strikes the gong on the hour and half-hour. The “hourstriker” was known in the 16th-century as the clock-watch, and it struck the hours with a single blow “in passing” (en passant) without having to activate a slide or push a button. Available in a 43mm pink gold or platinum case, the timepiece is limited to just 28 pieces.

One of the more striking watches to hit the market is Chopard’s L.U.C. Full Strike, which just won the prestigious Aiguille d’Or award from the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève. The Chopard oeuvre – created to celebrate 20 years of the L.U.C. line – has an impressive claim to fame: its gongs are made of sapphire crystal. Housed in a 42.5mm 18-carat fair-mined pink gold case, the timepiece is also stamped with the prestigious Seal of Geneva.

Knowledgeable watch connoisseurs, meanwhile, have long dreamt of owning Greubel Forsey’s Grande Sonnerie. The watch is coveted for its sonorous cathedral chimes housed within an 855-piece movement which includes a patented 25-degree inclined 24-second tourbillon.

The Grande Sonnerie boasts a platinum mini rotor for automatically winding the chiming function; serially operating fast-rotating barrels; and a security system for disengaging the strike mechanism if the crown is pulled out during the chime (something that would immediately break any other chiming watch). It is housed in a 43.5mm white gold asymmetrical case that includes a side window to allow a full view of the tourbillon.

For a watch that will get you noticed, Audemars Piguet’s groundbreaking Supersonnerie is the loudest minute repeater on the market right now. Its makers concentrated on improving existing theories and practices, but added one fundamental difference: a soundboard to allow the gong’s sound vibrations to extend beyond the case. This 44mm manually wound titanium timepiece comes with a chronograph function and one-minute tourbillon, and is available only in limited editions, including a new platinum edition with a blue dial.

Hopping across the border from Switzerland to Germany, A. Lange & Söhne’s first repeating wristwatch, the Zeitwerk Minute Repeater, was an instant classic. A far more intuitive system than a normal minute repeater, it chimes the time in units of 10 rather than 15, the same way we read it off on a conventional analogue clock. The gong and hammers placed on the front of the watch allow the wearer (and inevitable admirers) to see something truly rare: the repeater at work.

Another worthy investment, Panerai’s 49mm red or white gold oeuvre not only offers sweet-sounding chimes, but also two special features. For starters, the Radiomir 1940 Minute Repeater Carillon GMT PAM00600 is capable of chiming both local and a second time zone. Like the Zeitwerk, it’s also a decimal repeater – the fifth of its kind in history. Its manually wound Caliber P.2005/MR boasts a one-minute tourbillon and a 96-hour power reserve.

The equally ambitious Traditionnelle Minute Repeater Tourbillon from Vacheron Constantin would be a “simple” traditional minute repeater if it weren’t for the one-minute tourbillon performing gravity-defying revolutions within the manually wound Caliber 2755 TMR. Beautifully understated in 44mm pink gold or platinum, the watch’s musical notes can be activated by the slide on the left side of the case.

Telling time by ear is an underappreciated art, but certainly not a lost one. For the lover of history or the watch aficionado, a minute repeater would make the perfect gift. After all, there’s no time – or chime – like the present.

Text: Elizabeth Doerr