Minute repeater
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The minute repeater is a complication found in a mechanical watch, in which the time is struck to the nearest minute. These watches were once popular with the visually challenged, but nowadays this complication is sought after mainly by watch enthusiasts.
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[edit] Acoustical Indicators
An example of the ringing procedure is given for the time 3:17 - would be conveyed by the following sequence of audible tones: "dong, dong, dong, ding-dong, ding, ding". Here "dong" corresponds to 1 hour, "ding-dong" corresponds to 15 minutes, and "ding" corresponds to 1 minute. Often, repeating watches are activated by moving a slide located on the side of the case. Doing this winds a subsidiary spring, and allows various levers in the repeating mechanism to fall onto cams that turn with the watch hands. When the button is released, the spring moves the levers back to where they started from. As the levers move, they engage with hammers that hit gongs, thus striking the time.
[edit] Quarter Repeater
The quarter repeater represents an acoustical indicator of a complication which allows the mechanism to strike on wearer's demand the hours and quarter hours that have just passed. The mechanism of the quarter repeater uses 2 rings of different tones. One is low, signaling the hours, and the other is high, signaling the quarter hours.
If the time is 2:30 than the quarter repeater signals 2 low tones and after a short pause it strikes 2 series of high-and-low tones. It sounds like: bong, bong and then bing-bong, bing-bong.
[edit] Half-Quarter Repeater
The half-quarter repeater strikes hours as well as quarter hours but its main difference from the quarter repeater is that it uses a high tone in order to signal the half-quarter which has just passed. If the time is for example 3:40 the mechanism will strike 3 times "bong" after a short silence 2 times bing-bong and finally one time "bing". The last strike signals that a half-quarter has just passed.
[edit] Five-Minute repeater
The five minute repeater is able to strike the hours and every five minutes. The mechanism uses a low tone to signal the hours and a high tone for minutes.
[edit] Minute Repeater
The minute repeater works like the quarter-repeater. The main difference is that the minutes that have passed after the last quarter are struck rapidly with the help of a high-tone bell. If, for example, the time is 11:58 then the minute repeater will signal 11 low tones followed by 3 series of high-and-low tones and 13 fast high tones
