Chiming watches are a rare and special breed in the world of haute horology. Essentially, a chiming watch is one that audibly sounds the time either automatically or on demand.
Each of these musical watches generally operate in similar fashion– either by the push of a slide or a lever on the side of the watch. That push triggers a ballet of motion inside the watch caliber – turning gears and wheels and setting off hammers against gongs– to ultimately sound the time. Each audible watch can differ in the number of chimes, hammers, gongs, types of materials, and, ultimately, the way they sound. However, the important thing to know is that each offers a different cadence when it comes to chiming the time. Many chiming watches also have a silent mode so that the striking can be silenced.

The most well-known type of chiming watch is the minute repeater, however there are a host of other lesser-known melodious watches. Here we bring you a brief look at the different types of chiming watches.

Minute Repeaters

The minute repeater is a complication wherein the wearer activates a lever to chime the time. The minute repeater chimes the hours, quarter hours, and minutes using three different tones. Usually the hours are sounded using a single hammer and gong in a low tone. The quarter hours are signaled by two tones (a high and low sound) using two hammers, and the minutes (past the quarter hour) are sounded using a single high tone. For instance, at 8:36, the watch will chime eight low notes for the hour, two double-tone notes for the quarter hours, and six high notes for the minutes.

Decimal Repeaters

Like their big brother the minute repeater, a decimal repeater requires the wearer to take action and activate the slide to chime the time. This watch, however, chimes the hours, the 10-minute intervals since the hour passed, and then the minutes past the last 10-minute interval. So if the time is 8:36, for instance, when the wearer activates it, the watch will chime eight times for the hours and three times for the three 10-minute intervals, and then six times for the minutes.

Five-Minute Repeaters
Five-minute repeaters work the same way as a decimal repeater but striking five-minute intervals since the hour passed instead of 10-minute intervals. So for the same example of 8:36, the watch will strike 8 times for the hour on the low tone, then seven times to indicate seven five-minute intervals have passed, and then a single time for the extra minute. These watches require a little mathematical calculation on the part of the wearer.

Grand Sonneries

Grande Sonneries automatically chime the time without needing the wearer to push a slide or lever. It chimes every hour and every quarter hour, generally striking the quarter-hour first on a high gong and then striking the hours on a lower note. For instance at 8:30, it would strike twice on the high gong to indicate that two quarters of an hour have passed, and then eight times on the lower tone to indicate the number of hours passed.

Petite Sonneries
French for “little strike,” petite sonneries strike the time on each hour (sounding hours only) and then also chimes on each quarter hour, striking only the quarter hours passed since the hour. For instance, at 6 pm it will strike six notes to indicate 6:00. At 6:30, it will strike two notes to indicate it is two quarters past the hour. This watch does not repeat the hours at every quarter hour.

Chiming watches are incredibly complicated to build, and are generally very expensive – making second-hand chiming watches highly desirable. You can find more information on the history of chiming watches, especially minute repeaters, here.