Any avid watch enthusiast will attest to the marvel that is the minute repeater complication. In the art of watchmaking minute repeaters represent one of the greatest marvels ever conceived. When the slide lever on the watch case is pressed, a series of chimes ring out from the timepiece.

These chimes correspond to the actual time in hours, and minutes. A watch with a minute repeater will upon request deliver chimes indicative of the hours, quarters and minutes. On the other hand, a quarter repeater chimes hours and quarters only.

The visually impaired find the minute repeater to be of great help in telling time. Furthermore, before the advent of electricity minute repeaters aided in telling the time in the dark. It must be mentioned that today minute repeaters are deemed to be amongst the most complex mechanism available in timepieces. The dexterity and delightful acoustics make time repeaters a must-have among watch enthusiasts.

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How To Tell Time With a Minute Repeater

• Press the slide lever. This is usually located on the side of the watch case.
• Listen for the chimes that ring out. The chimes ring out in a particular order. First will be the Hours, followed by the quarter hours then finally the minutes.
• A low tone signifies the hours. Two tones, one high followed by a low tone signify the quarters. A single high tone for each minute after the quarter signifies the minutes.

An example of a ring denoting the time as 4:18 would be as follows

Dong-Dong-Dong-Dong….. Ding-Dong….. Ding-Ding-Ding

(Four chimes for the hour, one chime for the quarter and three chimes for the minute’s aster the quarter)