Manero Minute Repeater Symphony

THE MANERO MINUTE REPEATER SYMPHONY

The Quintessence of Peripheral Technology

By placing a peripheral rotor, a tourbillon, and a peripherally mounted regulator of a minute repeater in the movement of a single timepiece, Carl F. Bucherer has created an opus in its exploration of the peripheral technology that has become its signature. In this way, Carl F. Bucherer continues to revolutionize watchmaking.

TEXT SOPHIE COLIN

The Manero Minute Repeater Symphony is the most extraordinary masterpiece Carl F. Bucherer has created since it was founded in 1888. All the components work in unison, playing their part of rare complexity to perfection to create a symphony of timekeeping that is practically unparalleled. The challenge of this unique timepiece? Peripheral technology, a technical innovation that has become the brand’s signature statement ever since the company registered a patent for this manufacture caliber developed in-house in 2008: the CFB A1000, the first movement in the world to successfully incorporate this technology into series production.

The stroke of genius was to mount the rotor on the periphery of the movement to release the energy required for bidirectional automatic winding. The culmination of Carl F. Bucherer’s outstanding expertise in watchmaking, the mind-blowing design creates an equally stunning artistic effect because this arrangement exposes the full beauty of the movement.

In 2018, Carl F. Bucherer went even further, launching the CFB T3000 movement featuring both a peripheral winding mechanism and a revolutionary patented tourbillon suspended at its periphery, appearing to float above the watch dial.

PERFECTION OF THE TRIPLE PERIPHERAL

From a double to a triple peripheral: Carl F. Bucherer’s leitmotif is an unending quest for excellence by the company’s master watchmakers who, in 2021, succeeded in adding to this spectacular assembly the most complex complication – a minute repeater designed to strike the hour, quarter-hour and minute – and in mounting peripherally the repeater regulator on three invisible ceramic ball bearings with a low friction coefficient. The CFB MR3000 caliber is the crowning glory of the magnificent oeuvre that Carl F. Bucherer has been composing for more than a century. There has never been anything like the harmony with which these three innovations successfully interpret the score presented by the Manero. The classic, timeless collection that reflects the art of the Swiss watchmaker and bears the melodious name Manero Minute Repeater Symphony.

BEAUTIFULLY SYNCHRONIZED WATCH COMPONENTS

This wristwatch with a striking mechanism, COSC-certified chronometer and power reserve of 65 hours represents the ultimate synchronization between the parts of a timepiece, the precise expression of the way they interact, and the subtle balance between the functions, volumes, and weights that have their place inside the case and play a perfectly harmonized concerto that marries functionality, beauty, and security. The mechanism produces two different notes on two gongs that can be observed through an opening around the edge of the dial. At the same time, the sculpted striking hammers are visible through little openings. The floating tourbillon can be stopped on command to set the hour to the second using the stop-seconds function. A visual and audible indicator signals that the minute repeater is activated, and the crown locks whenever this is the case.

The same harmony of aesthetics is reflected in this timepiece’s sophisticated finish: the highly polished diamond-beveled chamfers, sandblasted crown, hand-angled dial edges and windows, and not forgetting the Côtes de Genève–striped, angled, and diamond-beveled bridges.

Because music is a pleasure that deserves to be shared, Carl F. Bucherer and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, two independent Lucerne institutions with a rich history in which excellence has long played a key part, have come together to pay tribute to perfection in art.

THE LUCERNE FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA

To accompany the Lucerne Festival, one of the biggest classical music festivals in the world, established in 1938, artistic and executive director Michael Haefliger, along with Claudio Abbado, founded the festival’s very own symphony orchestra in 2003: the Lucerne Festival Orchestra. For two weeks every summer, this orchestra brings together in Lucerne a host of internationally renowned orchestral musicians, led since 2016 by the Italian conductor Riccardo Chailly. Spreading the name of Lucerne all over the world as well as bringing the world to Lucerne, are ambitions shared by the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and Carl F. Bucherer alike, whose precious traditions – musical in one case, and horological in the other – have forged their worldwide reputations. These two institutions are passionate about forming open, creative links with their admirers both beyond Switzerland’s borders and at home, in the town of Lucerne which is dear to their hearts and whose values they are proud to champion. Their curiosity of spirit prompts them to explore, setting themselves challenges to push themselves ever onwards. This quest for innovation is all the more meaningful in that it stems from the similar history and heritage. Carl F. Bucherer’s timepieces embody both this traditional legacy and its innovative approach to luxury watchmaking. Similarly, the traditional repertoire performed by the Orchestra also welcomes contemporary works into the fold.

THE HARMONIOUS ECHO BETWEEN A TIMEPIECE AND A PIECE OF MUSIC

This open-minded, creative approach has led Carl F. Bucherer and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra to join forces to embrace two exceptional creations: the Manero Minute Repeater Symphony wristwatch and the musical work Periphery, which the world-famous Swedish composer Lisa Streich has written especially for this timepiece in a special commission for the festival.

Periphery is an homage to the quintessence of the art of Swiss watchmaking in all its complexity, embodied by Carl F. Bucherer in this unique watch. In a piece that lasts for two minutes and 30 seconds, Lisa Streich uses sound to evoke the striking mechanism of the watch’s minute repeater and the components that make up the peripheral rotor and tourbillon. The minute repeater regulator is reproduced by a succession of strikes and strokes of a triangle positioned vertically on a timpani. The peripheral rotor is given voice by the hairs of violin bows as they play the strings beneath, the breathing sounds from the wind instruments, and the drone produced by an unusual instrument: a buzzing bow, made of wood and elastic strings that produce a pleasant buzzing sound when they vibrate. The tourbillon and its suspended cage are brought alive by the brass section, the instrumentalists tapping the bells of their instruments with a pencil to trigger the revolving movement created by the strings. A resonance interweaves between the trumpet and the higher strings, and another wanders between the trombone and the lower strings. An audible tick-tock reproduces the delicate choreography of the watch hands.

There is a very subtle distinction between the symphony of a watch and a musical symphony. Sascha Moeri, CEO of Carl F. Bucherer, is delighted by the partnership that his brand has formed with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra: “The word ‘Symphony’ in the name of our wristwatch is an expression of the complex harmony and delicate interaction between the different components it contains – qualities that this watch shares with the Orchestra. Our watch and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra’s musical work, both new and dazzling, are in perfect harmony. They share a commitment to artistic perfection and a devotion to craftsmanship.”

Here, watch components and orchestral musicians take their seats, preparing to fascinate their audience. These two masterpieces, the Manero Minute Repeater Symphony and Periphery, they are perfectly in tune with one another.