Anniversary Special: Carl F. Bucherer Releases 3 New Manero Minute Repeater Watches

Some technical complications must remain with certain brands. For instance, Lucerne-based Carl F. Bucherer has made the  peripheral rotor a trademark technical solution. Minute repeaters and tourbillons fall within this ambit. Over the past two decades, many watchmakers have created their own variations of these two classic complications. But with every passing year, Carl F. Bucherer seems to be widening the gap between its complication variations and those of other brands. 

Celebrating its 135th anniversary this year, Carl. F. Bucherer has unveiled three new variations of its Manero Minute Repeater Anniversary Edition — 18 ct yellow gold (Ref. 00.10925.01.93.01), 18 ct white gold (Ref. 00.10925.02.83.11) and 18 ct rose gold (Ref. 00.10925.03.39.11). These are ‘Unique Piece’ models. In other words, each watch is limited to one piece only.

So, what is a conventional minute repeater in the first place? To begin with, this is a well-known complication wherein the watch chimes the current time to the minute via two hammers that strike the metal rings called gongs. In most cases, this mechanism can be seen on casebacks.  There are three steps in this mechanism. The first one involves loud notes striking for hours while the second step has lower notes striking for quarter hours. In the third step, there is a chiming of minutes with low notes. Initially, minute repeaters, extremely popular among collectors, were created to tell the time in the dark.

The first watch (Ref. 00.10925.01.93.01) in Carl F. Bucherer’s Manero Minute Repeater Anniversary Edition has an 18 ct yellow gold case. The lugs are finished in a moss-green guilloche dial with 18 ct gold hour markers and 18 ct gold hour and minute hands. Finishing the watch is a moss green nubuck leather strap with an 18 ct yellow gold pin-lock folding clasp. The floating tourbillon cage at 12 o’clock is coloured in gold. 

The second model (Ref. 00.10925.02.83.11) has 18 ct white gold lugs and a case, made of the same material, featuring 40 ice-blue, baguette-cut sapphires arranged around the bezel. The dial is crafted from ice-blue mother-of-pearl and has 18 ct white gold hour markers and hour and minute hands. The floating tourbillon is painted in blue, matching the dial colour. This variant is finished on a blue hybrid rubber strap with a ‘textile’ texture and a quick release system. You also get an 18 ct white gold pin-lock folding clasp.

The final watch (Ref. 00.10925.03.39.11) in this trilogy follows in the footsteps of the Manero Tourbillon Double Peripheral Paradise, released by the timepiece maker in March this year. The watch features a full-spectrum 18 ct rose gold case and a bezel with 40 baguette-cut gemstones, including tsavorites, sapphires and rubies. The dial is similar to that of the Double Peripheral model — a black sunray one with 11 baguette-cut tsavorites, sapphires and rubies in rainbow colours that are designated for the individual hour markers and 18 ct rose gold hour and minute hands. This model is also finished on a black hybrid rubber strap with a ‘textile’ texture and a quick release system. You get an 18 ct rose gold pin-lock folding clasp as well.

At 12 o’clock, each of the new watches features a floating tourbillon cage, which is neither mounted on the movement’s main plate nor attached to an overlying bridge. Instead the shockproof tourbillon is supported by three ball bearings. The regulator at 6 o’clock has the hammers at the base and the circular gongs are seen running around the inside edge of the case. Each of the three models also comes with a music logo on the dial at 9 o’ clock against the background of its dial colour. The left side of the case features the pusher in the same material as the case for activating the gongs and the minute repeater complication.

Powering the new Manero Minute Repeater Anniversary Edition is an in-house, automatic, self-winding Calibre CFB MR3000 with a power reserve of 65 hours. Turning each watch over showcases the sapphire caseback with an 18 ct gold oscillating weight and the tourbillon cage at 12 o’clock. The technicalities can be seen on the caseback when turned over. The caseback itself consists of six visible screws in the same material as the case, with the engraving of ‘Unique Piece’. What’s more, it has a guilloché decoration for the movement and the engraving of ‘Triple Peripheral’. Instead of keeping the oscillating weight inside the caseback, this watch places it on the outer periphery of the caseback.  So, you can see the oscillating weight first, then the tourbillon and finally, the minute repeater mechanism.

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