Minute Repeater (三問錶)

Minute repeater is a complication found in a mechanical watch, in which the time is chimed to the nearest minute.

Minute Repeaters were once very popular amongst blind and visually impaired, but nowadays this complication is sought after mainly by watch enthusiasts.


Louis Brandt 13''', 1892
In cooperation with Audemars Piguet, Omega created the world first minute repeater in 1892. Lever-escapement Lépine calibre, cut bimetallic balance, winding crown at noon, push-piece time-setting, enamel dial, Roman numerals, sunk small seconds dial, blued steel pear-shaped hands, 18k pink gold case with slide-piece on case-band for winding and triggering the hour, quarter-hour and minute repeater.

An example of the ringing procedure is given for the time 3:17 - would be conveyed by the following sequence of audible tones: "dong, dong, dong, ding-dong, ding, ding".

Here "dong" corresponds to 1 hour, "ding-dong" corresponds to 15 minutes, and "ding" corresponds to 1 minute. Often, repeating watches are activated by moving a slide located on the side of the case. Doing this winds a subsidiary spring, and allows various levers in the repeating mechanism to fall onto cams that turn with the watch hands. When the button is released, the spring moves the levers back to where they started from. As the levers move, they engage with hammers that hit gongs, thus striking the time.

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