RADIOMIR 1940 MINUTE REPEATER CARILLON TOURBILLON GMT
THE MINUTE REPEATER
The minute repeater mechanism is one of the most noble complications of high quality watchmaking, fascinating for its unique characteristic of making use of sounds to convey the time.
The new Radiomir 1940 Minute Repeater Carillon Tourbillon GMT is no exception. Listening to the time is made more immediate by the presence of three gongs which give life to the harmonious sequence of the carillon.
The intermediate stroke of the ten minutes and the possibility of choosing whether to activate – with a simple gesture – the sounding of the local time or of a second time zone make the function more current and contemporary.
Above all, Panerai never gives up on arousing emotion to keep alive the passion of its fond collectors. In this case, it has done so not only thanks to the design which evokes immediately the history of the brand, but also thanks to the crystal clarity of a carillon which evokes, for those who know how to dream, journeys into space and time, even on board a wonderful vintage yacht on which a ship’s bell sounds.
THE SOUND OF THE SEA
HISTORY AND TRADITION
In all cultures there are ancient customs where the passing of time is marked by the sounds of bells or other instruments, and the complication embodying the heritage of these fascinating traditions in haute horlogerie is the hour and minute repeater mechanism, which causes the watch to chime by simply pressing on a push-piece.
For the creation of the new Radiomir 1940 Minute Repeater Carillon Tourbillon GMT, Panerai has sought inspiration from its own history – for over a century indissolubly linked to the world of the sea – and from the marine tradition of marking the passage of time by a ship’s bell.
On sailing ships in particular, the striking of a bell played an essential part for the life on board: it served to rouse the crew in the morning, to summon the sailors for meals and to indicate the end of each day.
But it was also used to warn of danger, to convene an assembly or to indicate the presence of the ship to others when visibility was restricted by fog.
This ancient tradition is invoked again today by the special tones of the chimes of this exceptional new Special Edition created by the Panerai Haute Horlogerie Manufacture in Neuchâtel.
RADIOMIR 1940 MINUTE REPEATER CARILLON TOURBILLON GMT
Innovative, fascinating and highly complicated, the Radiomir 1940 Minute Repeater Carillon Tourbillon GMT Oro Rosso represents an important goal reached by Panerai which is launching an entirely mechanical system of great complexity which chimes the hours, ten-minute periods and minutes on demand. These various indications are obtained by means of three hammers striking three different notes, whose combination generates a particularly harmonious sound, similar to the ringing of a bell. The creation of a minute repeater watch which chimes ten-minute periods instead of fifteen-minute ones, as is usually the case, allows Panerai to distinguish itself by simplifying and making more immediate the calculation of time. One of the most remarkable features of this high-end timepiece is the possibility of selecting the time to be chimed by choosing between home time and local time. Thanks to the sapphire crystals placed on both the front and the back of the case, the new P.2005/MR calibre, completely developed by the Panerai Manufacture in Neuchâtel and finely skeletonised, can be admired. This movement has a tourbillon escapement, whose cage rotates on an axis at right angles to the axis of the balance wheel, and which makes two rotations per minute: this rotation ensures greater accuracy, providing the best compensation for the irregular rate caused by the effect of the force of gravity.
TIME THROUGH MELODY
THE PANERAI CARILLON
The chiming, activated by a push-piece at 8 o’clock, is carried out by three gongs.
The choice of three gongs, instead of the traditional two, enables three different sounds to be combined, so that the carillon can play a melody, like that of a bell. As is traditional, the first is the lowest and identifies the hour, while the last and highest indicates individual minutes.
The unique feature is that the second gong sounds triple chimes of an intermediate note, each triple chime corresponding to ten minutes instead of the traditional fifteen.
An example will help to describe the operation: in an ordinary repeater, the time of 10:28 is usually indicated by ten chimes for the hour, a different chime for the quarter of an hour and thirteen individual chimes for the minutes.
In the Panerai’s Minute Repeater Carillon, however, the sequence consists of ten chimes for the hour, then two triple chimes (the two ten-minute intervals) and eight single chimes. The system of tens, reducing the number of chimes, makes telling the time easier and quicker, and it also corresponds to the customary way in which time is now indicated by contemporary watches.
The quality of the sound propagated by the minute repeater is also enhanced by the specific qualities of the red gold of which the case is made and by its structure, being formed of two parts created separately and then soldered together. This construction enables the empty spaces inside the case to be optimised in order to enhance the quality of the sound.
The hand work, by master watchmakers, gives the sound of each individual watch a unique character, similar yet imperceptibly different from each other.
DOUBLE HOUR MECHANISM
TECHNICAL ADVANCE
One of the most remarkable innovative features of the Panerai Minute Repeater Carillon is the fact that the repeater function can be activated both for local time and for a second time zone, which is indicated on the dial by the central arrow hand and the AM/PM indicator on the counter at 3 o’clock.
In this case too, the simplicity of selection and of activating what is, in essence, a double hour and minute repeater mechanism, is impressive and the device is designed to protect the movement from the risk of any damaging.
By pressing on the winding crown push-button, the indicator at 8 o’clock (red dot) moves to show which time zone will be chimed. The red dot indicates which time zone the chimes will sound (Home Time/Local Time).
The push-button on the winding crown enables the time zone sounded by the Minute Repeater to be changed. To make the chime sound for the Local Time, the black dot on the winding crown must be first aligned with the 3 of the dial.
P.2005 calibre/mr
A SWISS TECHNICAL MASTERPIECE
The hand-wound P.2005/MR calibre is, together with the minute repeater mechanism, the result of four years of research and development by the Laboratorio di Idee in the Neuchâtel Manufacture. It also has the tourbillon regulator that is ne of the most fascinating inventions in mechanics applied to watchmaking. In the Radiomir 1940 Minute Repeater Carillon Tourbillon GMT, the remarkable Panerai tourbillon can be admired from both the front and the back of the watch thanks to the sophisticated work of skeletonisation. In the system patented by Panerai, the rotation of the tourbillon is different from that of the classic tourbillon. In the traditional version the balance cage rotates continuously on itself, limiting the variations caused by gravity. In the innovative Panerai mechanism, the tourbillon cage rotates on an axis which is perpendicular, not parallel, to that of the balance. Also, while the rotation is once a minute in a traditional tourbillon, in the P.2005/MR it takes 30 seconds, and this is shown by the indicator which rotates in the small seconds counter at 9 o’clock. The greater speed and the particular arrangement of the mechanism enable it to compensate very effectively for any potential changes of rate, ensuring very accurate timekeeping precision. The hammers of the minute repeaters and the two spring barrels, which store a power reserve of at least four days, are visible from the open back, through which the power reserve indicator mounted on the movement can also be read.
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