These audible time indication systems will appear very early on on pocket watches, sometimes even before the hands and dials. At the end of the 15th century, watches were already known to strike the hours “in passing”, such as church clocks.
Later, in the 18th century, Abraham-Louis Breguet invented gongs, circular blades in hardened steel which would reduce the thickness of the case while offering a clearer sound. In practice, this was mainly used to know the time at night …
This year, MeisterSinger has therefore decided to revive this function, which is inevitably obsolete nowadays, but full of charm!
This 43 mm steel watch, water-resistant to 50 meters, obviously retains the appearance of the brand’s watches with its single-hand. But instead of passing the hours discreetly, each time her hand displays a new time, she indicates it with a loud but discreet “ding”.
To do this, MeisterSinger was inspired by its exclusive jumping hour module. In this case, the energy which activates the sound at each time change is generated by a spiral attached to the minute hand, continuously throughout the 60-minute race. The transparent case back reveals the ingenuity of the mechanism striking a sound fork at the exact time.
This ringing function in passing (called “simple” because it only produces a single “ding”) can of course be stopped using the push-button located at 2 o’clock (don’t forget it before going to sleep!). Marked in black, it specifies, at a glance, whether the “silent” mode is activated or not.
The Bell Hora has a Swiss automatic mechanical movement (SW220 Sellita) with a standard power reserve of 38 hours.
The dial and its 144 5-minute segments are available in an opaline white version (the other two, in the catalog, are in blue or egg ivory) with a black single needle. It features black typography with red indexes and a blue spiral that evokes the unchanging flow of time.
It is worn on a dark brown crocodile print calfskin strap. To discover at Emile Leon in Paris, at 8 rue Royale.
