Publicité
Les langues disponibles
Les langues disponibles
The grande sonnerie and petite sonnerie
When the grande sonnerie mode is activated, the
strikework accompanies the owner throughout
the day by automatically providing audible indi-
cations of the hours and quarter-hours. It sounds
each new hour with the corresponding number
of low-pitched strikes. At each quarter-hour, it
first sounds the hours on the low-pitched gong,
followed by the number of elapsed quarter-hours.
To reduce the number of strikes sounded during
the day, the watch can be set to the petite son-
nerie mode, in which the hours are struck only
at each new hour, and are not repeated before
every quarter-hour for which only the number of
quarters will be sounded.
Owners who prefer to enjoy the passage of time
in silence need merely to select the silence mode.
The strikework is then deactivated and the hours
go by silently.
The minute repeater
On demand, the minute repeater strikes on three
classic gongs the hours, the quarter-hours, and
then the minutes that have elapsed since the last
quarter-hour. The first hammer strikes the hours
on the low-pitched gong with one strike for each
hour. Quarter-hours are sounded by three ham-
mers playing a melody on three different pitches,
struck successively on the high-, low- and me-
dium-pitched gongs. For the first quarter-hour,
a triple-strike sequence is played; for the half-
hour, two triple-strike sequences; and for the
third quarter-hour three triple-strike sequences.
Finally, a hammer strikes the high-pitched gong
to count the number of minutes that have passed
since the last quarter-hour.
At 12:59, for instance, the pleasing tune is achieved
by 12 low-pitched strikes, 3 triple strikes, and 14
high-pitched strikes (totaling 35 strikes, which is
the maximum number).
Publicité
