In some quarters of the Russian Orthodox Church, church bells are still believed to have almost supernatural powers. Traditionalists contend that they can keep demons at bay, for instance, by sanctifying the area in which they are audible. For this reason, bells are still christened with holy water and anointed with holy oil.

Timepiece connoisseurs feel a like reverence for the minute repeater and sonnerie, watches that chime the time on tiny gongs fitted inside the case. Of all complicated watches, they are the most challenging to make.

In fact, chiming watches defy horological history, which in broad strokes is a story of decreasing manual labor and increasing automation. Today mechanical watches can be made entirely by robots; the first pair of human hands to touch such pieces is typically the buyer's.

Chiming watches, however, are in principle impossible to make satisfactorily through purely industrial means. The repeater, which chimes the hour, quarter hour, and minute "on demand" when a slide in the case is pressed, and the sonnerie, which, like a mantel clock, chimes the hour and quarter "in passing," require both a musician's ear and a surgeon's hand to construct and adjust. As watchmaker Donald de Carle wrote nearly 50 years ago in his famous manual on complicated-watch repair, the repeater, more than any other type of watch, necessitates a mind that is "calm, cool, and collected." Absent the human judgment involved in the final adjustment of the mechanism, repeaters would function poorly, if at all. That gives them an aura that no other complication watch can match--and a price tag as well. It usually starts in the low six figures.

The finest repeaters are works of art but were born of necessity: to enable the owner to tell the time in the dark. They come down to us from the era of candlelight, when most houses were nearly pitch-black after nightfall and the majority of people heard the time from the town clock tower. (Many early clocks, having neither hands nor dial, also marked the time by chiming. In fact, the word clock comes from the Medieval Latin clocca, or bell.)

What makes a repeater special is that it chimes on demand. Pushing the slide set into the case activates mechanical feelers that read the time from the position of the gears that drive the hands--akin to a blind person reading Braille--and then ring the hour, the quarter hour, and the minute in succession, and in a different tone for each unit of time.

Englishman Daniel Quare is thought to have invented the repeater in the mid-1680s. His first ones sounded the hour and the quarter hour on demand, and in 1687 King James II granted him the patent for the quarter repeater. More than 20 years passed before the five-minute repeater, which chimes to the nearest five minutes, appeared, and it would be 40 more years before the first true minute repeater appeared. No one knows the exact date or even whether the credit, usually attributed to Englishman Thomas Mudge, is correct.

It took the great A.L. Breguet, who counted among his clients the court of Louis XVI, to evolve the species decisively. Repeaters before Breguet were ungainly because the dome-shaped bells occupied a lot of space. He streamlined the watch by using gongs made of tempered-steel wire, which could be wound more than once around the inner circumference of the case. The result: a flatter, more elegant watch with good sound quality. Wearing one really is "like having the mind of a genius in your pocket," as Sir David Lionel Salomons, history's most ardent Breguet collector, once said. (Although today the Breguet Classique Grand Complication Minute Repeater Perpetual Calendar would be on your wrist.) The final step in the repeater's maturity, the creation of a wristwatch repeater movement, was accomplished by Audemars Piguet in 1892.

The repeater and sonnerie are still a challenge to make. It requires incredible precision to craft a mechanism that can translate time into music within an accuracy of one minute. Giulio Papi, the complications master at the helm of Audemars Piguet Renaud et Papi and one of the world's top repeater experts, explains, "The repeater is an audible indication, and as such, the user expects the time being struck to correspond closely to that shown by the hands. While that seems obvious, it implies complex mechanical processes and the watchmaker must correct even the slightest eccentricities…to guarantee the closest possible match between the chimes and the hands." Still, even the best repeater may have up to a five-second discrepancy.

Then there's the fact that the repeater and sonnerie are musical instruments. It takes a Stradivarian watchmaker to craft both, as controlling the chiming tempo, a key element to a connoisseur, has to be done by ear as well as by hand. That reaches the apex of complexity in a sonnerie such as Gérald Genta's Octo Grande Sonnerie Tourbillon, which has four gongs (most repeaters have two) and rings the Westminster Quarters melody at each quarter and on the hour. As a master watchmaker at Patek Philippe has remarked, "the final hand setting of the regulator governor [which controls the speed of the chime] is instrumental in the resulting sound…allowing the unique, pure sound of the gong to remain the focus point when the mechanism is activated." The company takes chime quality and tempo so seriously that for decades the chairman, Philippe Stern, has personally approved every minute repeater and sonnerie before allowing it out the door.

Repeater manufacture has long been more art than science, with a dash of alchemy, too, like the persistent legend that the gongs must be tempered in horse urine in order to obtain the best-quality sound. (Watchmakers have told me this was actually done in the past.) But lately, high-tech innovation and outside-the-box thinking have conspired to produce a new breed of repeaters.
Iconoclast watchmaker F. P. Journe tossed out centuries of conventional wisdom to create his extra-flat Journe Repetition Souverain, a minute repeater with a movement barely four millimeters thick. (That's thinner than most modern simple automatic watch movements.) He achieved this in part by eschewing traditional wire gongs, which are round in cross section, for triangular ones, which are flat in cross section, thus taking up less room inside the case. He also crafted the case out of stainless steel, a material far superior to gold and platinum in resonance and sound transmission.

But it's still handwork that makes the Souverain a sonic beauty. "All the adjustments," says Journe, "have to be mastered one by one. Strength of the springs, hammers--there are many parts, and therefore many effects that have to be manually adjusted." That also means that production is necessarily low: Journe expects to create fewer than 20 Repetition Souverains per year, and only five Sonnerie Souverains. (Production of repeaters at other makers is equally low.)

A gong doesn't just ring a pure tone; it generates numerous overtones as well, and a badly made one will emit sounds that are not in tune with the dominant one. (In other words, the gong will sound out of tune with itself.) Gérald Genta claims its new Arena Metasonic Grande Sonnerie, made of a secret alloy whose lightness and rigidity supposedly outclass even steel, has the problem licked. Each watch is subjected to frequency spectrum analysis worthy of a physics lab--in fact, one at a French university developed the software with Genta--and the first time I heard it chime, its eerie clarity had the hypnotic quality Bram Stoker ascribed to the tingling, water-glass-like voices of Dracula's brides. Jaeger-LeCoultre's Master Minute Repeater goes at the sound problem by affixing the gongs directly to the sapphire dial crystal, which resonates more efficiently than a case.

Nonetheless, it's touch more than tech that makes a great repeater the subject of near-animist reverence. "Manual adjustment is what elevates the production of minute repeaters to an art form. It's what makes each timepiece unique," says the Patek Philippe master watchmaker. Even the ultra-high-tech Grand Complications Caliber 89 has to pass muster with an expert's golden ear before it's released. Machines made modern watches dependable, but it's the hand and ear that make the repeater inimitable.

Gérald Genta Octo Grande Sonnerie Tourbillion

It rings the time in passing and on demand by playing the Westminster Quarters, the same melody rung out by London's Big Ben. $810,200.
www.geraldgenta.com

Audemars Piguet Jules Audemars Minute Repeater with Jumping Hours

A stunning Art Deco–style jumping hour repeater from the company that in 1892 put the repeater on the customer's wrist for the first time. $231,100
www.audemarspiguet.com

Patek Philippe Ref. 5074R

A perpetual calendar that adjusts for length of the month and for leap year, combined with a minute repeater. Patek Philippe chairman Philippe Stern still insists on hearing and approv-ing each Patek repeater personally. $518,500 (subject to change)
www.patek.com

Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Minute Repeater

One of the new breed of repeaters that mix high mech and high tech: The gongs are attached directly to the sapphire crystal for unparalleled bell-like clarity and volume. $142,000.
www.jaeger-lecoultre.com

IWC Portuguese Minute Repeater

For the connoisseur who likes big secrets: The sapphire caseback shows off the pocket-watch movement that gives this 43-millimeter watch its heft, but only the slide in the case band--and the ringing of its gongs--reveal its musical heart. $86,000.
www.iwc.com

F.P. Journe Repetition Souverain

Both a hard-core traditionalist and a game-changing iconoclast, François-Paul Journe has done it again, creating the world's thinnest minute repeater. $165,400.
www.fpjourne.com

Vacheron Constantin Patrimony Traditionnelle Calibre 2755

In full court dress, this masterpiece combines a tourbillon, minute repeater, and perpetual calendar, and with its open dial, wears its heart on its sleeve. $585,000.
www.vacheronconstantin.com

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1

For Him:
Rolex Oyster Perpetual Submariner
Unveiled in 1953, the Submariner was the first watch water-resistant to 330 feet. Its combination of unparalleled elegance and spy-friendly versatility appealed to Sean Connery’s James Bond. MSRP $5,175

Omega Speedmaster
The first watch to go to the moon (Buzz Aldrin and his Apollo 11 colleagues were wearing them when they touched down on July 20, 1969). Sporty and sturdy, this automatic chronograph is among the most accurate and affordable you can buy. MSRP $3,000

TAG Heuer Monaco
Issued in 1969, this stainless-steel classic was the first automatic chronograph to feature a water-resistant square case. MSRP $3,195

IWC Portuguese
Developed in 1938 in response to Portuguese tradesmen’s request for an oversized watch with precise, pocket-watch movement, this is IWC’s signature model. Available in every imaginable iteration, from the classic automatic chronograph to a “perpetual calendar” model, which features a moon-phase indicator that varies by only one day every 577 years. MSRP $19,400.

Audemars Piguet Royal Oak
The Swiss company revolutionized sport watch design when it introduced this model, with its octagonal case and eight visible screws, in 1972. The automatic, stainless-steel Royal Oak is now available with all kinds of bells and whistles, from chronograph to tachymeter, and is a big hit with golfers like Vijay Singh. MSRP $15,700

For Her:

Ladies Rolex Presidents

The Ladies’ Rolex President stands as a representation of one’s accomplishments and status. A prime choice of female politicians, executives, and actresses alike, the President watches are adorned with varying amounts of diamonds which sparkle magnificently on any wrist. Rolex Super President models differ from traditional Ladies’ Presidents with the additional diamonds which are set on the band and lugs, creating a timepiece which makes a bold statement regarding a lady’s refinement and distinction.

La Grande Classique de Longines
Capturing the soul and the style of Longines’ earliest design tradition, La Grande Classique de Longines watches have until today largely retained their original appearance and proportions. Changing expectations and technical advances have now prompted Longines to update their design, not least by introducing a larger case size and offering an even broader choice of subtly refined dial faces. But the slim, sleek La Grande Classique de Longines case profile remains unchanged, as does the cool elegance that gives this collection an appeal as enduring as the classic tradition itself.
L4.191.7.11.6

L4.191.9.11.0

Omega New Constellation
Omega has re-designed its iconic luxury watch line – Constellation collection which was created in 1982 and developed into a milestone in 1995 when super model Cindy Crawford started worked as Omega Ambassador. Constellation collection is one of the world’s most recognizable luxury timepieces with the famous “claws” that look beautiful and firmly hold the sapphire crystal together with the case.

The 2009 Omega Constellation watches are highly anticipated by global Omega fans as there has not been a new Constellation in years. And these fresh Constellation watches with dynamic and contemporary look can live up to expectations of their fans. They fully present new design features and technical innovation while respecting Constellation’s precious heritage. If you like matching his and hers watches Omega also has a men's line of New Constellation watches.

A fine Swiss timepiece is an excellent way to say "I love you" and every time that the timepiece is viewed. Notice all prices are the manufacturer’s suggested retail price ( MSRP). You will find all of these fine Swiss watches at substantially reduced prices at the Luxury Swiss Watch Shop

The difference between a $500 watch and a $50,000 one is often in the movement.

The ground floor of the Roger Dubuis factory, a top-tier manufacturer specializing in artistically extroverted timepieces, comes as a shock. This is one of Geneva's temples of haute horlogerie, a place where you'd expect the loudest sound to be the nearly inaudible cricket-song of a hand file against brass. But in this gigantic room blue- and white-coated technicians tend enormous, sleek machines. The air is redolent of oil and coolant, the ceiling is strung with pipes and conduit, and, here and there, warning signs and bundled cables testify to the huge amounts of electricity being consumed.

It's in a room like this that virtually every watch, from the humblest $100 automatic to the costliest limited-edition mechanical marvel, starts its life. The components are made by supersophisticated industrial robots--computer-guided automatic milling machines and spark-erosion fabricators. Which brings up a question: If this is so, why do watch prices range from less than the cost of a decent lunch to more than that of a comfortable suburban house?

The answer lies one floor up, where those raw parts undergo a dramatic transformation. Here the workers wear blue or white coats, too, but otherwise you've gone back in time. There are no robots, only tools that would be recognized by a watchmaker from a century ago. At one workbench, a woman uses a spinning boxwood disk to polish a delicate sine wave curve into the flanks of tiny brass-gear teeth. Nearby, another woman passes a movement repeatedly under a spinning disk charged with jeweler's rouge. As she does so rows of gleaming parallel stripes appear, like ripples in a frozen pond; these are the famous Geneva stripes, or Côtes de Genève, one of the signature movement decorations of the Genevan school of watch decorating. At yet another workstation, a young man works with painstaking slowness to give a tiny irregular movement bridge a beveled flank so that it catches light like the facet of a diamond. Each stroke is done with the care of a vascular surgeon stitching shut a hair-thin blood vessel.

These are the finisseurs (finishers), and it's their time-consuming, labor-intensive work that holds the answer to the question I posed earlier. The art of movement decoration has been part of watchmaking since the first table clocks were made during the Renaissance. Over the centuries national style developed: the reserved gilt-and–blued steel stolidity of English chronometers; the glitteringly sensuous Genevan approach; the superbly flat dress pocket watches of France, made as thin as possible so as to avoid disrupting the tailored fit of a waistcoat. Whatever the style, the finish of a watch movement was one of the purest expressions of a craftsman's pride, as in most cases nobody but the watchmaker himself even knew it was there.

Which is still the case: An appreciation of finishing is an insider passion even today. But a basic understanding of it can give the nonfanatic a new perspective on the price-value relationship of timepieces. Here are key points to remember.
Respect the robots. A modern CNC cutter or spark- erosion machine can turn out parts that without further finishing can be assembled into high-precision micromachines. The 'bots make possible entry-level mechanical watches from Swatch, Seiko, Citizen, Orient, and Timex of a precision that would have been impossible at such a price point (often less than $500) a few decades ago.
More finishing does not mean more accuracy. Top-grade hand-finishing is really the connoisseur's delight--beauty in the eye of the beholder who knows how to recognize it.

Quality of finish and price tag don't always parallel. If a particular model becomes a collectors' darling (like the stainless steel Rolex Daytona chronograph), or if a brand is just plain hot, price follows suit, even if the watch has little or no hand-finishing.
Precious metals and gemstones change the equation. A machine-finished watch with one or both can cost more than one that is hand-finished. Rarity and peculiar provenance can make a watch expensive regardless of finishing.
Absent those factors, higher price means more finishing. A $10,000 watch, as a rule, has more hand-finishing than a $6,000 one.
At the high end, it's the finisseur. His painstaking work bestows a pedigree price. A $1,000 chronograph with industrial finishing becomes a $25,000 one with hand-finishing.

Above that, complication comes into play. At the very high end, it drives price as much as finishing.
Finally, finishing is a three-tiered cake: basic (robot), machine, and hand. Mechanical watches that sell for less than $1,000 compose the base. They have little or no finish beyond that produced by the robots that manufacture the movement. In the middle ($1,000–$12,000) are mechanical models with varying degrees of machine-executed decorative finish: attractive beveling, blued-finish screws, gleaming countersinks, and engraving. Watches at the upper end of this layer also have some hand-finishing. In the top tier ($12,000 and up) hand-finishing starts to predominate. North of $20,000, you're getting the full-on haute treatment, horology's equivalent of haute couture. A premium-grade movement like Vacheron's caliber 1400, the caliber 215 from Patek, or the caliber 3120 automatic from Audemars Piguet, is a singular object: The hand-finishing means no two are exactly alike.

And the expense is huge. The finest haute horlogerie brands train most of their finisseurs in-house. Just learning how to bevel a flank properly can take anywhere from one to one-and-a-half years. Learning how to black-polish steel to a mirror finish, hand-engrave a rotor, or apply Geneva stripes of just the right depth requires a touch that has to be passed down directly--there are few manuals to go by.

It's fair to ask why a top-notch timepiece is so expensive. But when you multiply the number of hours it takes to hand-finish just one part--more than half a day in some cases--by the number of components in the movement and then by the number of years it takes to learn how to finish a piece of metal the size of a fly antenna, it's easier to see how the price starts to add up. It's the hundreds of hours of human skill concentrated in a cubic centimeter.

IWC watches are split between two major styles, with activity themed offerings such as Pilot or Aquatimer diving watches, and classic "thinking person" styles such as the mega popular Portuguese or Ingeniuer timepieces. Equally proficient in steel or gold, IWC is also known to offers excellently finished movements of in-house design and manufacture. IWC is also known for offering luxury watches for a wide array of budgets from mid level luxury to the ultra high-end.

While a name like "International Watch Company" might sound universal, the brand is totally Swiss in design and quality. IWC watches have little trouble being recognized in most circles and benefit from a distinct lack of pretentiousness in their brand image. Owning an IWC luxury watch typically communicates that you buy nice watches for your own enjoyment, not merely for others to see.

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