Audemars Piguet - Jules Audemars Jumping Hour Minute Repeater Press Release

Jules Audemars Jumping Hour Minute Repeater

The hours sing out once more on the new Jules Audemars watch from Audemars Piguet. They also dance across the dial with its jumping display and elegant blued Arabic numerals. Combining two in-house specialities – the Minute Repeater and Jumping Hours – this marvel of precision and harmony perpetuates Audemars Piguet’s supreme expertise in the field of complicated watches. With its case and dial featuring a new take on classical styling, it gives a fresh boost to the Jules Audemars collection. This delightful new model will be music to the ears of connoisseurs the world over.

Musical hours

Watchmakers in the Vallée de Joux have always nurtured a great passion and an innate talent for striking mechanisms. Perhaps because, amid the silence of the mountains and the hushed serenity of long snowbound winters, the crystal-clear sound of these miniature musical marvels strikes an even deeper, more meaningful chord. Or possibly because such a complex mechanism was bound to stir their legendary inventive spirit. Founded in Le Brassus in 1875, the Manufacture Audemars Piguet soon demonstrated its skills in the art of striking watches. In 1889, it presented a “Grande Complication” model equipped with a Minute Repeater mechanism striking the hours, quarters and minutes. It also devised a number of technical innovations serving to miniaturise these mechanisms: in 1891, it created a Minute Repeater model measuring a mere 18 mm in diameter; and in 1892, the first Minute Repeater wristwatch. Finally, in 1910, a Minute Repeater pocket-watch featured a magnificent movement characteristic of the elegant aesthetics cherished by the watchmakers of the Vallée de Joux. A minute repeater watch strikes on demand a low-pitched note for each hour, a double high- and low-pitched note for the quarters, and a high-pitched note for every minute that has elapsed since the last quarter. It calls for a particularly sophisticated mechanism, since the watch must not only be tuned like a musical instrument, but must also “know” at any time how many notes it must strike.

Throughout the 20th century, this know-how was displayed and consolidated in timepieces much coveted by connoisseurs, in which striking mechanisms are often combined with other complex mechanisms. In 1992, Audemars Piguet presented a wristwatch combining a Minute Repeater mechanism with another of its specialities: jumping hours. As early as 1924, making a complete break with the standard analog reading of time, the Manufacture in Le Brassus had introduced a pocket-watch with jumping hours and small seconds at 6 o’clock, distinguished by the inherently understated elegance of Art Deco.

A state-of-the-art Minute Repeater

The Audemars Piguet Calibre 2907 driving the new Jules Audemars Jumping Hour Minute Repeater is clearly inspired by the movement of the historical 1992 model, whereas the architecture has been entirely redesigned to match the new case dimensions. Audemars Piguet has implemented innovative solutions to accommodate the relatively large movement and the complex striking mechanism within a diameter of just 43 mm. Blending traditional expertise and cutting-edge technologies, the Manufacture has also endowed the audible mechanism with all the fine-tuned technical details that distinguish its latest generation of Minute Repeaters. In particular, the movement has been equipped with a device that does eliminate any audible gap when the watch does not need to strike a quarter (e.g. 9:13); the sequence of 9 hours and 13 minutes is thus struck smoothly and without any interruption. Minute Repeater watches generally preclude any manual time-setting when the striking mechanism is in operation, since this might damage the movement. To remedy this problem, Audemars Piguet has developed a system that disengages the time-setting system while the watch is striking. This set of breakthrough developments thereby enhances the reliability, the security and the user-friendliness of Minute Repeater watches, while remaining true to the aesthetic appearance of the vintage models. The jumping hour mechanism has also been optimised. So as to enlarge the numerals while making sure the disc was not too large for the movement, watchmakers had to rethink the positioning of the disc and shift it towards the centre of the calibre.

A highly contemporary face

In terms of aesthetics, Audemars Piguet has redesigned the round case of the Jules Audemars collection in a resolutely contemporary spirit. The slimmer bezel ensures maximum dial opening, creating a fine impression of space and lightness. The shimmering reflections of the finely polished and brushed pink gold or platinum surfaces emphasise the pure lines of the case featuring two lugs smoothly integrated with the bracelet. The dial also reinterprets the signature Jules Audemars classicism in a beautifully balanced composition. Its opaline base is adorned with a minute track and applied blued Arabic numerals radiating a modern and dynamic appeal. The hour aperture with its disc jumping instantly from one figure to another every sixty minutes is distinguished by a bevelled opening. The minutes are displayed in the dial centre by a flame-blued steel hand in the “Poire Paris” style. The small seconds tick away on a snailed subdial at 6 o’clock with a hollowed structure highlighted by a track motif and an original hollow-tipped baton hand.

The spirit of the Vallée

A sapphire crystal caseback enables one to admire the hand-wound Calibre 2907 with its 412 parts and its balance beating at 21,600 vibrations per hour. The architecture of this movement is entirely in harmony with the characteristic style favoured by the Vallée de Joux. The perfectly alignment of the three gear-train jewels forced the watchmakers to rebuild the entire going train. The rounded shape of most of the bridges almost appears to be drawn with a compass, starting with the crown-wheel. The finishing on the various parts is in keeping with the finest regional traditions, including mirror-polished surfaces and the care devoted to interior and external angles. All parts are finely bevelled and rhodium-plated and, depending on the specific part, decorated with “c?tes de Genève” or stippled. In an exquisitely refined styling detail, the “c?tes de Genève” adorning the bridges are lined up with the three gear-train jewels. This beautiful mechanical symphony is surrounded by the two Minute Repeater gongs that are struck by the two small hammers.