Patek Philippe Redesigns The Minute Repeater With $639,500 USD Platinum Watch: Advanced Research team adds a Mechanical Loudspeaker to minute repeater.
In 2019, Ulysse Nardin released a watch that turned heads – and not just because it was eye-catching. The Hourstriker Phantom was a chiming watch with an extraordinary volume – 85 dB if measured from 10cm away – created in partnership with the audio tech company Devialet (itself set up by a descendant of Ulysse Nardin). When this watch struck the hour, it was about as loud as standing 30m from a diesel train rattling past at 45mph. If you can imagine that.
For Watches And Wonders 2021, Ulysse Nardin has tapped once again into Devialet s know-how for a new chiming piece. The Blast Hourstriker picks up where the Hourstriker Phantom left off. Like the original, it is designed for volume. In a traditional chiming watch, when the hammer hits the gong, the sound wave is partly absorbed into the workings of the timepiece. In Ulysse Nardin’s Hourstriker pieces, however, the gong is connected by “torsion levers” to a 0.3mm thick titanium membrane which, like a speaker, moves air