The Blancpain Léman Automatic Minute Repeater

<h4 style="text-align: center;">A jewel of a watch with a golden voice.</h4>
 
Of all the complications in all the world, I don’t think there are any as charming as the minute repeater. Certainly, there are other complications with history and romance to burn, and with fascinating technical stories to tell as well, but the repeater in one important sense, stands alone. Over the last fifty years or so, just about every complication has been successfully industrialized. While the perpetual calendar and rattrapante chronograph remain extremely aristocratic complications, especially when they’re done using traditional construction and techniques, it’s also true that for a fraction of the price of classic versions, you can get user-friendly versions which, if not exactly mass-produced, can offer the same basic functionality as traditionally made complications at a much larger volume than classic design would allow.
However, one complication has resisted industrialization – or I should say, one class of complications has resisted industrialization; chiming complications. The minute repeater and grande sonnerie still require careful hand assembly and hand adjustment, and fine-tuning things like the speed at which the gongs are struck, and the pitch and volume of the chimes, still requires the careful hand of an experienced watchmaker, who must not only have technical knowledge and the mastery of very challenging technical skills, but also a good ear as well.
For that reason minute repeaters remain rare, with just a few high-end watch brands keeping them in regular production. In recent years, several companies have experimented with technical updates to the classic minute repeater design, including new materials for the gongs (crystal sapphire, for instance) new construction techniques for the hammers (the “trebuchet” hammers used by <a href="../watches/jaeger-lecoultre/">Jaeger-LeCoultre</a>, which resemble the throwing arm of a medieval siege catapult) and new case construction techniques, including the Supersonnerie case developed by Audemars Piguet. But classic repeater construction still has an enormous appeal to fans of the complication and while such traditionally constructed watches may not offer the volume, or technical bells and whistles, of some modern chiming watches, they have the expression of centuries-old craft techniques on their side.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter wp-image-1166614 size-full" src="https://watchbox-blog.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/2023_03_06_AWAW_Blancpain-Leman-Minute-Repeater_2135-1430-53_02.jpg?max-w=1024&q=50&auto=format,compress&usm=10&usmrad=3" alt="Blancpain Leman Minute Repeater 2135-1430-53" width="1400" height="908" />
The <a href="../watches/blancpain/blancpain-leman/">Blancpain</a> LeMan automatic minute repeater is a case in point. Blancpain in its modern incarnation got its start in 1981, when the name (the company, like so many other Swiss brands, had gone dormant during the Quartz Crisis) was purchased from the SIHH conglomerate by Jean-Claude Biver and Jacques Piguet, the son of watchmaker Frédéric Piguet, a specialist in ultra-and complicated watchmaking.
Blancpain began selling watches under that name once again in 1983 and one of the first complications it released was an ultra-thin minute repeater, launched in 1988. The repeater was available in both hand wound and automatic versions, using the caliber 33 and caliber 35 respectively and at the time, the caliber 35 automatic was one of the first – possibly the first – selfwinding minute repeater.
IWC’s automatic Grand Complication, which included a grande et petite sonnerie and repeater, was launched two years later, in 1990 and Patek’s first automatic repeater, the reference 3979, debuted a year after Blancpain’s, in 1989. Ref. 3979 was discontinued in 1998, <a href="https://onlineonly.christies.com/s/rare-watches-new-york-online/patek-philippe-gold-minute-repeating-ref-3979-150th-anniversary-patek-269/117533" target="_blank" rel="noopener">with only about a hundred made</a>. The earliest self-winding repeaters go much further back in pocket watches – Breguet, for instance, made no. 195, a “perpetuelle” (automatic) pocket watch <a href="https://catalog.antiquorum.swiss/en/lots/breguet-lot-31-146" target="_blank" rel="noopener">which was sold in 1805</a>.
The calibers 33 and 35 are technically F. Piguet movements since they precede the acquisition of that company by <a href="../watches/blancpain/">Blancpain</a> and Swatch Group in 2010 (Jean-Claude Biver was CEO until 2002) and they are wonderful pieces of work. The caliber 35 is, essentially, the caliber 33 with the addition of an automatic winding bridge and rotor, which brings the movement dimensions up to 23.90mm x 4.85mm. The movement is a “finger bridge” type, with a central bridge for the movement center wheel, and separate cocks for the third, fourth, and escape wheels. The level of finishing is as old-school as the movement architecture, with hand-applied Geneva stripes, beveled and black-polished screw heads, polished countersinks for the screws, and black polished steel hammers as well as a black polished foot for the gongs.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter wp-image-1166616 size-full" src="https://watchbox-blog.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/2023_03_06_AWAW_Blancpain-Leman-Minute-Repeater_2135-1430-53_05.jpg?max-w=1024&q=50&auto=format,compress&usm=10&usmrad=3" alt="Blancpain Leman Minute Repeater 2135-1430-53" width="1400" height="908" />
The gongs are noteworthy for one other reason – they are what is in the industry referred to as “cathedral” gongs, which means that they’re much longer than traditional repeater gongs. The greater length means a deeper, more resonant tone.
Blancpain’s first watches after the rebirth of the company were all very traditional round watches with very classic designs, but in 1994, a little over ten years after showing its first collections, Blancpain introduced a more contemporary, luxury-sports design: the Léman family. (The name might seem to suggest that these watches were intended specifically for the so-called “masculine client” and perhaps that was exactly what Blancpain had in mind but the name is also that of Lac Léman – Lake Geneva). The Léman family featured a more angular, robust case, with the first in the series featuring a movement with a four day power reserve and a case with 100M water resistance.
The Léman 2100 series case was combined with the automatic repeater caliber 35 in 1999, and the version we’re looking at today – reference 2135 –  has several interesting features. In addition to the beautifully finished and historically important movement, the case offers a neat little trick in the minute repeater slide. Normally a repeater is activated by pushing a slide build into the case flank. There are pusher-activated repeaters as well but in either case, pushing the slide or pusher all the way winds up a second, smaller spring barrel that provides power to the striking train (repeaters have a component called an “all-or-nothing” piece, which blocks the repeater from chiming if the slide’s not pushed all the way – this is to prevent an incorrect strike). In the 2135, there’s a locking tab that keeps the slide in place and when the tab is flipped up, it unlocks the slide and also provides a leverage point for pushing the slide.
The locking mechanism, as well as the screw-down crown and caseback, contribute to the ref. 2135 having 30 meters’ water resistance. Most repeaters are not water resistant at all, as a water resistant case tends to muffle the sound – and, as well, it’s technically very challenging to make the aperture in the case for the slide or pusher water resistant. The case for this version of the 2135 is in red gold, which rather handsomely underscores the case geometry. Red and rose gold have been, traditionally, the preferred metals for repeater cases as the alloy is thought to produce a pleasingly warm tone. Thanks to the slimness of the movement and the water resistance of the case, the 2135 is not an especially loud repeater but the tone is nonetheless, quietly seductive.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter wp-image-1166615 size-full" src="https://watchbox-blog.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/2023_03_06_AWAW_Blancpain-Leman-Minute-Repeater_2135-1430-53_04.jpg?max-w=1024&q=50&auto=format,compress&usm=10&usmrad=3" alt="Blancpain Leman Minute Repeater 2135-1430-53" width="1400" height="908" />
And, speaking of seductive, the watch is quite visually beautiful as well. There has been a distressing tendency in recent years for even high luxury watch brands to cut corners a bit on the quality of hands, dial markers, and dial furniture, but the ref. 2135 has beautifully faceted hands and highly polished, faceted dial markers, with razor sharp edges that give the dial an almost jewel-like quality. At 38mm x 10.9mm, this is a watch that appeals on a lot of levels and is squarely on-trend for the increasing interest among serious collectors for classically sized and traditionally styled watches – with an historically important and gorgeously crafted movement, to boot.
For more, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9fcP5HCRyo">see Tim Mosso’s video review.</a>
<a class="btn btn-primary" style="width: 298px; margin: 0 auto; color: #ffffff; text-decoration: none;" role="button" href="../shop/Blancpain-Leman-2135-1430-53.html">Shop This Watch</a>

Blancpain

Written By

Jack Forster

WatchBox Global Editorial Director Jack Forster has been fascinated by every aspect of watches, clocks, and watchmaking for his entire life. He began systematically studying and learning about watches over 20 years ago, and during the first explosion of watch enthusiast forums, he became a moderator on thepurists.com. Jack became a full-time watch writer in 2007, when he joined Revolution Magazine, first as group technical and features editor, and then as editor in chief of Revolution Magazine USA. He joined the enthusiast website Hodinkee in 2015 as managing editor and then as Editor in Chief. In 2022, Jack joined WatchBox as the Global Editorial Director. He is the author of Cartier Time Art: Mechanics of Passion, and has written about watches, and other subjects, for many other venues including CNN, American Express Departures, and Vanity Fair.

View More Articles

WatchBox - Collecting Together

Official App

Recent Searches

Popular Searches

The Blancpain Léman Automatic Minute Repeater

Jack Forster

WatchBox - Collecting Together

Official App

SHOP BY CATEGORY

Featured Collections

BRANDS A-Z

Featured Brands

Featured Stories

A Watch A Week

Featured Playlists

Recent Searches

Popular Searches

Jack Forster

Related products

Related articles