Of Melodies & Muses

Timekeeping machines have been ringing out intervals for millenia. Chinese water clocks are believed to have been the first to use gongs, nearly 2,000 years ago, with European clock towers and eventually the first repeating pocket watches and wrist watches following centuries later. And yet, the use of sound in mechanical watchmaking remains an elusive art. Only trained ears, skilled hands, and plenty of know-how can bring one of these marvels to life.

“The minute repeater is not only one of the six masterpieces of the art of watchmaking – it is in fact unanimously recognized as the most complex and difficult to create of the six,” says co-founder Jean-Claude Biver. “After 50 years of pursuing my passion for these masterpieces, it was essential to me that we start with the most complicated and challenging watch as the centerpiece of the Biver brand, before moving on from there.”

But this first Biver creation is no ordinary minute repeater – if you can ever call a minute repeater “ordinary,” that is. As the name implies, the Carillon Tourbillon both utilizes a 60-second tourbillon regulator and chimes out the time in a special way, with what is called a Carillon Minute Repeater. While a traditional repeating mechanism uses two hammer-and-gong pairs to sound the time (typically with a low tone for the hours, low-high double tone for the quarter hours, and a high tone for the minutes), a Carillon uses three such pairs, with the quarter hours chimed using a three-tone melody.

While this type of minute repeater is much more difficult to design and craft, the result is a watch with a musical sensibility that brings an extra element of beauty and thoughtfulness along with it. This concern for the more emotional side of time-telling extends to every facet of the Carillon Tourbillon. The rose gold used for cases is thermally hardened so that it won’t dampen the gongs’ sound as much (a common problem with precious metal minute repeaters) and the stone dials are domed to evoke vintage dials.Titanium offers the pinnacle of sound quality though, due to its hardness and structure – it might be lightweight on the wrist, but it is anything but on the ears.

“What fascinates me about the minute repeater is the mastery of sound. I think about it in the same way as a violin,” reflects Biver. “I find it extraordinary that watchmakers invented the minute repeater because of not being able to read the time at night and then concentrated and differentiated by transforming these practical sounds into harmonious and soothing melodies. This is how our Minute Repeater touches not only the senses of precision and mechanical beauty, but also a sense of harmony.”

Importantly, all of this comes packaged in a watch that is as practical and technically sound as a minute repeating wristwatch can be. Calibre JCB.001 is automatically wound via a micro rotor – a rarity for a repeating watch – and it has a 72-hour power reserve as well, despite all of the mechanical complexity. Additionally, there is a security system built into the winding stem that prevents the wearer from accidentally damaging the movement by setting it while the repeater is active. A 50-meter water resistance rating was also achieved (crucial to meeting the JCB Seal Standards), and it was done without harming the sound in the process.

It might seem unusual to begin a watch brand with such a massive undertaking, but ultimately that type of challenge is Biver’s reason for existing in the first place. Creating a watch like the Carillon Tourbillon connects Biver to the tradition of complicated watchmaking while also offering a platform for our own technical innovations and unique approach. This might be a watch deeply rooted in history, but it has its eyes clearly focused on tomorrow.