Minute Repeater Resonance: DevelopmentĪrmin Strom as masters of resonance movements wanted to work in partnership with masters of chiming watches, and Greisler knew the perfect person and team: his old friend Alain Schiesser, founder of Cercle des Horlogers, with whom he had worked with in the past at Christophe Claret. And at the top of the hour (and on the quarters), the clock chimes the time for all to hear. The impressive tower clock is animated with automatons: four minutes before the change of the hour, a cock crows, a bear (the symbol of Bern) makes his rounds, and a jester takes the liberty of announcing the hour in advance. This clock tower supposedly helped Albert Einstein hone his special theory of relativity while working as a patent clerk in Bern. The clock in this tower has not only served as the city’s main clock for more than 500 years, the tower also served as the reference point for travel times indicated on stone markers along the main cantonal roads. But it does have one landmark clock that everyone in the region knows: the thirteenth-century Zytglogge. While the French-speaking region of Switzerland is known for a multitude of famous historical timepieces, Bern has far fewer.

Armin Strom is based in Bienne in Switzerland’s canton of Bern, and Greisler wanted to pay homage to the region. Inspiration for a minute repeater came from an unusual source: a sixteenth-century tower clock. But Armin Strom’s chief watchmaker Claude Greisler wanted something more: a grand complication. As the industry leaders in resonance, including the brand’s laboratory-certified resonance technology was an easy choice. Minute Repeater Resonance: Inspirationįor the 10 th anniversary of its fully integrated manufacture, Armin Strom decided to develop a world-first masterpiece fully highlighting the brand’s savoir-faire. The Armin Strom Minute Repeater Resonance is a limited edition of 10 pieces in Grade 5 titanium in honor of the 10 th anniversary of the manufacture. Under a virtually invisible sapphire crystal dial, the dual balances oscillating in synchronization and the two hammers striking the time, the Minute Repeater Resonance stages an unparalleled horological spectacle for both the eyes and the ears. Armin Strom’s laboratory testing has revealed gains in precision of 15-20%. While it has been long known that resonating coupled oscillators in watch and clock movements improves accuracy, less known is that resonance also conserves energy. The sonorous chimes are also enhanced by attaching the gongs directly to the case.Ī specially developed security system maximizes ease-of-use by protecting the minute repeater from accidental damage by blocking operation during time-setting and winding.įully visible between the two oscillating balances is Armin Strom’s patented Resonance Clutch Spring – the key to Armin Strom’s mastery of resonance – and the result of three years of intensive research and development.

The case is in Grade 5 titanium for optimal sound transmission (and comfort), and its 47.7 mm diameter allows for a generous volume for the sound to propagate from. The hammers are visually and technically balanced by the two independent regulators – one for each of the two movements – at 5 o’clock and 7 o’clock. Masterpiece 2 highlights both the phenomenon of resonance and the sonorous chiming of the time by placing all of the action up front and center dial side.Īctivated by a slider on the left side of the case band, two hand-polished hammers at 11 o’clock and 1 o’clock respectively chime the hours and minutes on two three-dimensionally curved gongs encircling the hour/minute subdial. Inspired by the Bern’s centuries old chiming tower clock, the Minute Repeater Resonance is limited to just 10 pieces in celebration of the 10 th anniversary of the Armin Strom manufacture. The Minute Repeater Resonance is not simply a masterpiece, it’s Masterpiece 2!

Two complications, resonance and minute repeater two vertically-stacked independent movements two forms of resonance (oscillators and sound propagation) two independent mainsprings in one barrel and two top development teams in Armin Strom (resonance) and Le Cercle des Horlogers (repeaters). Minute Repeater Resonance by Armin Strom, the world’s first and only resonance chiming wristwatch, offers two-in-one for double the pleasure.

Minute repeater watch