To celebrate its 185th anniversary,Baume & Mercier has released its new five minute repeater pocket watch at Watches & Wonders in Hong Kong.

The Baume & Mercier five minute repeater is a type of chiming complication which actually pre-dates the minute repeater, however, watches that strike the time “in passing” rather than on demand, as a repeater does, are much older – in fact the earliest mechanical clocks in Europe are generally thought to have told the time by ringing bells, rather than with hands on a dial; the word “clock” itself is from the Medieval Latin clocca, a bell.Invented by Samuel Watson in 1710, the five minute repeater works by first chiming the hours, and then chiming the number of five minute intervals past the hour, allowing the time to be told with more accuracy than is possible with a quarter repeater though of course, not as accurately as a minute repeater. The five minute repeater is a quite rare complication nowadays – the module is sourced from Dubois Depraz and has in the past been used by Kelek but there are probably far fewer five minute repeaters in any given year than minute repeaters; I don’t know of any other five minute repeater movements or modules in current production. The movement is openworked, and the watch is a limited edition of 30 pieces worldwide.

Related posts:

Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Survivor Chronograph Watch On James List Era Hautlence Vortex Watch hands-on Louis Moinet Jules Verne Instrument III Rose Gold Watch An Iconic Watch- The Girard-Perregaux 1966 Steel