Acoustic delights will be the focus of Jaeger-LeCoultre's stand at SalonQP this year as the Swiss watchmaker unveils a collection of new and vintage minute repeaters at the Saatchi Gallery from 6-8 November 2014.
Jaeger-LeCoultre has created more than 200 different watch calibres designed to chime the hours, quarters and minutes on demand since 1870. At SalonQP it will show the world its dominion of this extremely complicated mechanism, revealing the art of creating different melodies and obtaining the purest possible sound.
For many watch aficionados, the highlight of the Jaeger-LeCoultre stand will be seeing and hearing the Master Ultra Thin Minute Repeater Flying Tourbillon watch, the 11th creation from the Hybris Mechanica collection. Making its grand debut in January at the SIHH, this amazing grand complication watch conjugates two horological complications - a minute repeater and a flying tourbillon - in the slimmest case imaginable. Measuring just 7.9mm thick, it holds the record as the world's thinnest minute repeater. Nestled in a 41mm white gold case, the minute repeater is equipped with two patented trebuchet hammers that strike two crystal gongs to create musical time.
For Reverso devotees, Jaeger-LeCoultre decided to celebrate the famous swivel watch's 80th birthday with music and launched the Reverso Répétition Minutes à Rideau in 2013. Surpassing the technical difficulties of incorporating a striking mechanism in to the iconic Art Deco rectangular case, this minute repeater is unlike any other. Instead of depressing a pusher on the side of the case, the Reverso features a sliding white gold Venetian blind covering the watch. By sliding the curtain, the highly complicated mechanism made up of 270 parts is activated.
Also on show will be the Rendez-Vous Ivy Minute Repeater watch, recently unveiled at the Watches&Wonders salon in Hong Kong - the first minute repeater designed for women by Jaeger-LeCoultre. To show just how serious the manufacture is about women's complications, the Rendez-Vous Ivy Minute Repeater has not inherited a downsized men's calibre but has been endowed with a totally new one.
The auditory extravaganza laid on by Jaeger-LeCoultre will go that extra mile at SalonQP this year with the inauguration of the "Sound Lab", a unique opportunity to attend a master class in assembling a minute repeater with watchmakers direct from the Vallée de Joux.
With over 60 established and independent watch brands participating, a chance to see the winning watches of the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) up close, seminars by horology experts and an exhibition entitled Gems of Time, SalonQP is an event that no serious watch lover can afford to miss.
