The minute-repeater stands alone, even among the more coveted horological complications, and Breguet Tradition Repeater Minute Tourbillon 7087 replica watches are also in a class all their own. In the new 7087 Minute Repeater Tourbillon Breguet’s watchmakers and engineers made a clean sweep of the usual methods to design their exceptional timepiece around the sound it produces. The 7087 represents all the company’s latest innovations for watch like this including the extensive research and development effort that leads up to it.The noise is thus reduced and wear avoided, while the speed is kept constant to maintain the strikes at a steady rhythm however many they may be. You can read more about the Breguet magnetic governor, here.
You can immediately see the unusual shape of the repeater gongs which sit on top of the dial. The gongs are attached to the bezel which is mounted to the caseband in such a manner that enables the bezel and crystal to vibrate along with the gongs. The gongs are struck by hammers in an upward motion, which is also unusual. This novel and pioneering approach enabled Breguet to design a product that has exceptional purity of sound and an original tone. It all comes together in an utterly fascinating minute repeater!!
Breguet Tradition 7087 Minute Repeater Tourbillon
44mm rose gold case, double-paned sapphire-crystal caseback, automatic mechanical movement with peripheral platinum rotor & silicon Breguet hairspring
To elaborate a bit further on some of the 7087’s more intriguing features…
As noted, the gong springs (invented in 1783 by, yes, Abraham-Louis Breguet) — essential components of a minute-repeater — have been entirely reworked and are actually attached to the bezel to favor the transmission of vibrations. The radiating glass that is found on the Reine de Naples Sonnerie au Passage 8978 is here replaced by a radiating bezel screwed to the caseband with three pillars allowing the bezel and glass to vibrate freely. This innovation results in improved sound emission, particularly at low frequencies. While the exterior parts of the Breguet Tradition 7087 replica watch generally transmit mostly the higher frequencies, the radiating bezel offers a wider range with several frequencies below 4,000Hz.
As noted, unlike many minute-repeaters in which the travel of the hammers is parallel to the movement of the watch, this Breguet Tradition 7087 has hammers that strike vertically. Thanks to this technique, the mechanical vibrations are very efficiently transformed into sound waves, according to Breguet. You can see in the image below, the hammers sitting directly beneath the gongs.
As in other fake skeleton breguet tradition répétition minutes tourbillon 7087 models such as the Classique La Musicale 7800 model, a membrane has been placed on the back of the case. Linked to the bezel, it vibrates the air in the acoustic cavity between the pierced caseback and the membrane. The volume of the minute-repeater is thus increased, while the sounds from the mechanism are filtered. Here Breguet’s research in acoustics resulted in a gold membrane affixed to a sapphire crystal providing an unhindered view of the movement, unlike the metallic glass membrane of the reference 7800.
The baseplate and bridges of the movement (including the tourbillon bridge) are in titanium. And as seen in the video, the transmission from the barrel for the strike to the minute-repeater is by chain mechanism.
In addition to all these innovations is the use of a magnetic strike governor, an intriguing Breguet invention of 2010. This patented system consists of silver weights passing beneath magnets and slowed down by magnetic fields. An adjustment spring allows the magnets to be moved closer to or farther from the magnetic field.
The 44mm watch is made complete with a tourbillon that has an escape wheel and hairspring in silicon.
The net result: an utterly fascinating minute repeater!!