Horological Luthiers…

Pop Quiz, all you “Who Wants to be a Millionaire“ and Jeopardy groupies:  What do Gioachino Rossini, Serge Rachmaninov, and Arthur Rubinstein have in common?  Composers, you say?  Close, but not exactly.  Musicians, you say?  I suppose.  The answer I am looking for is this:  They are all distringuished patrons of Montres Breguet.  Of course! And this, mon amie, brings me to my presentation of today’s horological masterpiece:  the new Breguet Réveil Musical watch:

Breguet Réveil Musical Watch

48mm yellow or white gold case (16.3mm thick)

Based on the new Breguet Caliber 777 movement incorporating a silicon escapement and a Breguet balance-spring, the Réveil Musical houses a fabulous patented musical mechanism — a disc with pins rather than a typical music box cylinder mechanism.  I’m not going to get into the particulars of the mechanism because it is too hard to visualize, but I think it is safe to assume that the auditory outcome is pleasing.

The watch will play a 20-25 second musical tune either at its owner’s pleasure — via a push piece positioned at 10 o’clock, or at any given time via a pre-set alarm function.   The dial performs a complete turn during the 20 to 25 seconds while the tune is being played.  A power reserve display at 3 o’clock indicates whether or not the watch has the energy to play the tune, and in fact will not make music without enough stored energy to enable the the musical to be played in its entirety.

Dial close-up:  Note the seconds hand has a “Treble clef” end

The caseband is finely adorned with a musical stave (staff) — a nice touch, as I like to say:

Such an exceptional model naturally deserved an exceptional presentation box…crafted in resonance wood from the Risoud forest in Valle de Joux.   Resonance spruce is the main type of wood chosen by luthiers as the vibrating membrane on stringed instruments.

Did you Know?

350 Years, and an Extremely Tight-Veined, Ultra-Light and Intensely Vibrant Wood

A harsh climate and extremely poor soil: such is the winning combination that enables the Risoud Forest to produce a 350 year-old resonance spruce, whereas these trees usually reach the age of 180 at most in other regions. This is a treasure for the luthier who must combine lightness in order to achieve the best sound for the soundboard, with rigidity in order to withstand the tension of the strings, which amounts to approximately 80 kg on a folk guitar. The construction does not allow any for any security margins as far as the thickness of the bracings is concerned, since any such differences would be detrimental to the sound of the instrument. Thus, the resonance spruce from the Risoud Forest, the largest single wooded stretch of its kind in Europe, enables the construction of guitars with an extremely precise and powerful sound. Credit:  JMC lutherie.