The Soprano by Christophe Claret

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The Soprano by Christophe Claret

Tourbillon minute repeater with four cathedral gongs

Courtesy of Christophe Claret

The Soprano features a musically accurate 4-note minute repeater striking Westminster Quarters on patented cathedral gongs, a 60-second tourbillon and Charles X style bridges, all on a spectacular dial-free view. The Soprano pays homage to the roots of Christophe Claret’s manufacture, which has innovated in striking complications, tourbillons and sapphire components since its earliest years. Indeed, in 1997 Christophe Claret was the first to incorporate sapphire components – comprising plates and Charles X style bridges − in a wristwatch movement.

The Soprano is a timepiece of contrasts: traditional haute horlogerie with state-of-the-art manufacturing; English Parliament with French King; historic complications with contemporary design; aural indications with visual displays; noble gold with high-tech titanium, and metal components with sapphire elements. 

Courtesy of Christophe Claret

The minute repeater is considered – with good reason − to be one of the most demanding and difficult horological complications to realize due to the marriage of technical complexity with artistic musical tonality. A minute repeater tells the time audibly with two notes created from two small hammers striking two gongs: one for the hours, one for the minutes and a combination of the two for the quarter hours. Even more complex is the Clarion repeater with three notes that can play a simple melody for the quarters.

However, the nec plus ultra of the minute repeater realm is the Westminster – so called for the distinctive tune played by the Big Ben clock at the Palace of Westminster, home of the British Parliament. Big Ben strikes a complex melody for the quarters with four hammers striking four notes on four bells. To provide an even fuller and richer sound than standard repeaters, the Christophe Claret Soprano features four cathedral gongs, each circling the perimeter of the movement twice (a normal gong goes around only once). And to further ensure that the rich sound reaches the listen’s ears, the central case band is in grade 5 titanium, a metal known for its superior acoustic properties and used in musical instruments.

A few decades before Big Ben began chiming Westminster Quarters over London, the French king Charles X was making a significant impact on art, architecture and horology. One of the defining characteristics of pocket watches created during this period were stepped bridges, which became known as Charles X bridges. Having spent much of his early watchmaking career restoring beautiful timepieces from this epoch, Christophe Claret incorporated this historic design element into the Soprano.

In 1997, Christophe Claret was the very first to use sapphire bridges (even then Charles X style) and plates in wristwatch movements, and the Soprano makes liberal use of sapphire components to allow visual access into the mechanisms. From the smoked ring circumscribing the movement that discreetly hides yet subtly reveals the cathedral gongs, to the transparent mainspring barrel at the top of the open dial, and turning over to the clear repeater inertia governor cover visible through the sapphire display back.

“When I created Manufacture Claret over 20 years ago, the very first movement I developed was a minute repeater so the complication has always been very special to me.” Christophe Claret 

Minute Repeater: The minute repeater, which strikes the time on demand (usually by activating a slide on the caseband), is an extremely difficult complication to realize because:

1. Technically, it is a very complex mechanism.

2. Musically, the notes have to ring clear, loud and harmoniously.

With decades of experience developing striking watches, Christophe Claret has not just mastered the mysterious art of minute repeaters, but has brought the genre into the 21^st century. Working with a piano tuner, Claret developed a computer program called Analyser 2000 that records and analyses the notes for pitch, duration and loudness, and even the length of the silent pauses between notes. This enables the Christophe Claret manufacture to consistently create harmonious and musically accurate melodies with strong crystalline notes.

Each note is determined by the precise length and diameter of the gongs. The hammer has to strike forcefully for a loud sound, but immediately leave the gong so as not to deaden the ring.

“The melody chimed by the Soprano is as musically correct as possible." Christophe Claret

Repeater operation: When the repeater slide is activated, the chimes sound the number of hours with C (Do), the deepest note; followed by the Westminster Quarters’ melody for the quarter hours (unless fewer than 15 minutes after the hour); and then the number of minutes after the last quarter hour.

Patented cathedral gongs: Each cathedral gong circles the movement twice so that one coil lies just above the other. Because the coils are so close together, they can touch each other as they vibrate, which can create a disconcerting buzz. Christophe Claret invented a system that effectively avoids this problem, which was awarded a patent.

Westminster Quarters: Westminster Quarters, also known as Westminster Chimes, is a four-note tune originally written in 1793 for the bells of the St Mary the Great Church in Cambridge, England and was known as the Cambridge Chimes.

However, in 1859 the melody was chosen for the clock tower at the Palace of Westminster in London. A clock now more commonly known now as Big Ben, though the term originally referred to just the large hour bell. So well known did the four-note chimes become that they came to be called Westminster Chimes.