show here in Platinum (with blue accents)

The Salón Internacional de la Alta Relojería (S.I.A.R) will take place next week at the Four Seasons Hotel in Mexico City, Mexico.  Started  in 2007, SIAR has become  “the” horology gathering to be at for the Mexico/Latin/South America markets.  As a result, almost all of the big names — including independents — will be there.  At last year’s SIAR, the big news was Maximillian Busser’s introduction of the MB&F Legacy Machine No. 1 — images of which I broke here at Perpetuelle the day before the show.  So what’s going to be hot this year?  Time will tell, but I do have one spectacular preview to share with you — renowned watchmaker Christophe Claret will be there to present a new timepiece called the Soprano Minute Repeater.

The official release will take place during a press conference at the Four Seasons Hotel in Mexico City, October 2nd 2012 at 3 p.m. — but why wait?  While I don’t have all the details, but I do have several nice “first looks” at this “grand complication”— on the jump.

update!  here it is in red gold:

video

This watch is a tourbillon minute repeater with four cathedral gongs and a titanium caseband, to optimize sound transmission.  Three limited editions of eight timepieces in each of red gold, white gold and platinum will be produced.  Price?  Astronomical, approximately speaking.

For now, suffice to say that this looks to be the kind of masterpiece that we have come to expect from Christophe Claret.

Because I don’t have any further details at this time, I thought I would take a few paragraphs to review some of Claret’s many accomplishments as one of the watchmaking world’s finest.

The man has basically done it all, working and developing minute repeaters (among the most elite of complications) for decades now.  He founded Renaud Papi Claret (RPC) in 1987 and in 1991 Claret bought his partners out and started Christophe Claret SA.  Of course Messrs Dominique Renaud and Giulio Papi went on to their own fame as elite watchmakers, eventually becoming a part of Audemars Piguet.

In 1997, Claret marked his company’s tenth annniversary with the first musical wristwatch to chime in passing and on demand, featuring a 20-tooth comb and playing two tunes.  A year later went on to be the first to use sapphire bridges (1998) in a timepiece.  2000 saw the launch of the Tourbillon Orbital, unique in the world and born of a dream cherished by Christophe Claret.  In 2009, the DualTow and its subsequent spellbinding versions such as 2010′s DualTow NightEagle.  2011, the Adagio and the 21 Blackjack. Oh, and then there was this year’s X-TREM 1 with magnetic, levitating spheres.

All in all, just some of why you can appreciate Christophe Claret and his work.  Expect nothing less from this Soprano Minute Repeater.

More at http://www.christopheclaret.com/en/