Watches are generally polite little objects, quiet except for the movement’s whispering tick tick tick. Some watches, however, are not content to remain hushed.
This story originally appeared in Volume 15 of Road & Track.
This H. Moser & Cie. belongs to a class of watches called minute repeaters, which, in addition to visual indicators like hour and minute hands, can signal time audibly via tiny chimes. At the press of a button on the case’s flank, the timepiece relays the hours, quarter hours, and minutes with a cheerful progression of dings. It’s complicated to achieve without a computer chip. As such, among many watch enthusiasts, the minute repeater is considered the pinnacle of mechanical watchmaking.
Moser puts that mastery on display here. Mechanically actuated hammers strike the minute repeater’s small gongs, as the company calls them. The hammers are the bits that look like a pair of polished steel antlers at the watch’s 10 o’clock position. Notice the gongs, those thin coils of metal curling around the outside of the dial. The design of the gong and hammers separates one minute repeater from another, as do a slew of other variables, like case material and movement architecture. But at its core, the minute repeater is designed to tickle that most unlikely tool for telling time: your ears.
The only member of staff to flip a grain truck on its roof, Kyle Kinard is R&T's senior editor and resident malcontent. He lives near Seattle and enjoys the rain. His column, Kinardi Line, runs when it runs.
