No, there isn’t a speaker in there, or a midget orchestra of bell players. It’s way way way more complex. Put really simply, there are quite a few gears and cogs that are all joined together onto the underside of the spinning centre on the dial. What you can’t see is that on the other side of the dial are tiny little plugs. There are a number of small metal strips of different lengths with a raised portion on the end. These metal strips are tuned to make a musical note when the raised end is ‘plucked’. The plugs on the underside of the dial are positioned so that they ‘pluck’the metal strips in a certain order, which in this case (terrible watch pun), are ordered in a way as to play a beautiful tune from Bach. Obviously, because there’s a small space limit, the La Musicale can’t play a whole piece but instead a lovely little snippet.
The difference between this and the Reuge pieces is that there isn’t a spinning governor making sure it doesn’t constantly speed up out if control. Breguet’s invented a new magnetic governor, how that works remains a mystery. Maybe A.L Breguet has cast his horology spell on it. Or something less absurd.
Believe it or not, the La Musicale is actually water-resistant to 30 metres despite having holes in the back. This is because the automatic movement is encased inside a Liquidmetal chamber, this helps amplify the sound while keeping it pure. Yes, Liquidmetal that is used by Omega is also used here as both companies are owned by the Swatch group. Also there’s a power reserve meter on the dial somewhere (if you can find it, write in and let us know!). If that isn’t enough, what looks like a seconds hand, isn’t a seconds hand at all. It displays the time the alarm in this watch is set for instead. Don’t worry, the other hands really do display the time.
The La Musicale has a 45 hour power reserve, however the alarm function will drain power if left running and so will constantly using the musical feature. But the looks on your friends’faces will be timeless (another rubbish pun…Sorry). It’s also large at 48 mm in diameter and 16 mm tall, meaning dress watch doesn’t spring to mind. The edge of the case has lots of musical designs on it instead of Breguet’s hallmark coin edging, and watch number is on the dial, just to remind you how special this watch is.
The only watch I’ve reviewed so far that’s this amazing is the Van Cleef and Arpels Midnight Planétarium, which you can check out here. Personally, I prefer the design of the Midnight Planétarium, but the complication in the Breguet surpasses it by far. However, even on it’s own, the Breguet will blow your socks off. For more info, please visit breguet.com
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Harlan Chapman-Green – Contributing Writer
First introduced to horology with the Patek Philippe Calibre 89 by his father two years ago, Harlan enjoys his passion for fine horology. He prefers to spend his time in the boutiques of upmarket brands, trying out new pieces constantly. His preferred 3 brands are A. Lange & Söhne, Breguet and Vacheron Constantin. Although not much for the smaller brands, he still finds the complications intriguing and wishes to own one watch from each of his three favourites. Read his articles here.
