Hands-On With The New Blancpain Grande Double Sonnerie
When you think of Blancpain, you probably see a mental image of the Fifty Fathoms, Bathyscaphe, or perhaps even a Villeret model. At least, those were the watches I had in mind when the folks at Blancpain invited us over to Le Brassus and see their latest creation a few weeks ago.
Blancpain Grande Double Sonnerie – check out my melodies
According to Blancpain, this new grand-complication watch took eight years to develop. But the concept came earlier, in 2013, when Blancpain CEO Marc A. Hayek started to develop this idea of having a grande sonnerie in the collection. But he didn’t want a grand sonnerie that chimes each hour and all quarters with two hammers hitting a low tone and a high tone (two notes). Rather, Marc A. Hayek wanted to add two more notes to have a four-note melody chiming instead of just a “ding” and a “dong.”
The grande and petite sonnerie
In the years that followed, Blancpain started to work on realizing a special feature that had never been done before. Besides a grande (double) sonnerie, the movement can also operate as a petite sonnerie and minute repeater. The last one is the complication everyone is probably familiar with — slide a lever or push a button, and the watch chimes the current time using hammers and a gong. A grande sonnerie and petite sonnerie do not need to be specifically activated; they work “en passant.” Both chime on the hour and at each quarter. A petite sonnerie, however, will chime only the hour or the quarters exactly at their respective times, whereas the grande sonnerie will also chime the hour at each quarter, followed by the quarter(s). While the sonnerie normally uses two notes, Blancpain added two more — enough to chime the famous London Big Ben “Westminster” melody.
Playing four notes
In this case, it means that the Blancpain movement needs to be able to hit the E, G, F, and B notes with four hammers. Additionally, the striking mechanism also needs to be able to play them at the perfect tempo. Blancpain uses a silent magnetic regulator to control the pace without interfering with the sound of the melody.
At Blancpain’s laboratories, engineers supply detailed analytical data and technical insights that assist master watchmakers. This enables precise, micron-level adjustments to the teeth of the sonnerie mechanism. The partnership between cutting-edge technology and skilled craftsmanship guarantees a consistently regular tempo, accurate within a tenth of a second. Blancpain’s expertise in producing the melodies is prominently showcased at the hour.
Other grande sonneries only chime the hours on each hour. The Blancpain Grande Double Sonnerie, however, provides the owner with the beautifully long chime of the hours, followed by the full melody of four complete quarters.
Adding a second melody with the help of Eric Singer
In addition to the correct sound (and frequency) of the notes the gong produces, Blancpain had another complicated issue to solve. Hayek wanted the watch to chime not just the Westminster melody but another one as well. The problem to solve with a second melody is that it can only chime the same four notes and at precisely the same pace. For this, Marc A. Hayek called in his friend Eric Singer — yes, the drummer from Kiss — for help.
Singer, an avid watch collector, proposed 10 melodies to Blancpain. Hayek picked the one he thought suited the Grande Double Sonnerie best and dubbed it the “Blancpain melody.” The wearer of this watch can select his or her favorite melody to chime by using a pusher on the case. However, the buyer of this watch can also opt for a different melody, on request, as long as it uses the same four notes and tempo.
You can do no wrong here
With a selector on the case side, the wearer can switch the Blancpain Grande Double Sonnerie to Silent mode, Grande Sonnerie mode, or Petite Sonnerie mode. You don’t want to be woken up at night every quarter, Blancpain assumed. Another interesting feature is the safety mechanism Blancpain has developed. What I didn’t know before visiting Blancpain’s workshop in Le Brassus is that you can damage the movement by turning the crown while it’s chiming. With the safety mechanism in place, you can’t make this mistake anymore.
A perpetual calendar and a flying tourbillon as well
But the chiming mechanism isn’t the only feature of this grand-complication watch from Le Brassus. The Blancpain Grande Double Sonnerie also boasts a retrograde perpetual calendar and a flying tourbillon. This makes it the most complicated Blancpain wristwatch in history, with 21 patents developed and a total of 1,116 components, of which 1,053 are for the 15GSQ movement. This caliber can be wound in both directions — for the time and for the chime, so to speak. On the back side of the movement, you will find power reserve indicators for the chime and the time.
A smart retrograde perpetual calendar
The perpetual calendar has a retrograde date, meaning that its hand will fly back to 1 after the last day of the month has ended. In other words, it will not first advance to the 29th, 30th, or 31st if those days are not part of the month of the year. This sounds logical, but usually, a perpetual calendar quickly passes through those dates before it shows the 1st again. That’s not the case with this integrated perpetual calendar mechanism. Besides the date, there’s an indicator for the day, month, and leap year.
Last, although not officially considered a complication, is the flying tourbillon. Blancpain introduced the world’s first flying tourbillon in 1989 and has given today’s execution a silicon balance spring and a 4Hz frequency.
135 inwards angles
As you can see in the images of the new Blancpain Grande Double Sonnerie that our photographer Max took, the finishing is impeccable. During the visit to Le Brassus, we also witnessed the painstaking tasks performed by a small team in a special department on the first floor, where they take care of all the manual finishing. Think of anglage, perlage, mirror polishing, diamond milling, and graining, all executed by very steady hands from the ladies and gentlemen in Blancpain’s workshop. They also apply these to the sides of the components that you will not see as the wearer. There are, for example, 135 inward angles on Blancpain’s caliber 15GSQ. The movement’s 26 bridges and mainplate are also crafted from 18K gold. The power reserve of the watch is 96 hours, and the chiming (in Grand Sonnerie mode) will last for 12 hours before it needs winding again.
Every watch bears the name of the master watchmaker, though it’s invisible to the wearer. On one hand, this is to acknowledge the hard work of the watchmaker who assembled the watch, but it’s also easy to identify who did all the work on the specific watch when it goes back to Blancpain for periodic service.
The Blancpain Grande Double Sonnerie on the wrist
Now, as you can imagine, all these complications and mechanisms need to fit inside a case that one can actually wear. Although its 47mm diameter certainly won’t be for everyone, the Grande Double Sonnerie was impressively wearable on my 18cm wrist. Its 14.5mm thickness is perfectly acceptable, and the case will be available in red and white gold. The open-worked dial is also made of gold. The leaf-shaped gold hands have been blackened for contrast, as have the baton-shaped sub-dial hands.
Each watch comes on an alligator strap in a color of choice with a folding clasp in gold (white or red).
One, maybe two, per year
Although Blancpain officially states that its watchmakers can produce only two of these watches per year, the reality for now, according to Marc A. Hayek, is that they can do one per year. The buyer of the Blancpain Grande Double Sonnerie will be involved in the production process, as he or she can make the aforementioned (custom) choices. Unlike other brands offering watches at this level, Blancpain will not require you to already be a client of the brand.
The level of research and development that went into this watch is insane, and I urge you to visit the Blancpain website to have a look at all the steps necessary for the development of getting the right sound for the melodies.
The spotlight on craftsmanship
With the Blancpain Grande Double Sonnerie watch, the company is reclaiming its name in Haute Horlogerie, just like it did with the Blancpain 1735 in the 1980s. That watch, the most complicated self-winding wristwatch at the time, featured a minute repeater, split-second chronograph, perpetual calendar, and tourbillon.
Perhaps it’s watches like this complicated Blancpain Grande Double Sonnerie that the watch world needs to keep pushing technical (mechanical) boundaries and ensuring there’s admiration for traditional craftsmanship. We can wear the other ones, but isn’t it great to just admire what these watchmakers and artisans are capable of in the Vallée de Joux and other watchmaking places?
The retail price of the Grande Double Sonnerie will be CHF 1.7 million (excluding VAT). You can find more information on the Blancpain website.
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