L.Leroy Minute Repeater Flying Tourbillon
Inspired by the historical tact watch made by Leroy in 1810, the Maison L.Leroy has created the unique grand complication piece featuring Minute Repeater and Flying Tourbillon. This timepiece is available exclusively at the prestigious Cellini Boutique in New York.
Founded in Paris in 1785 under Charles Leroy, himself the son of watchmaker, L.Leroy has written some of the finest chapters in the history of French watchmaking and chronometry, developing a wealth of technical and inventive treasures for over two centuries.
Faithful to its extraordinary and inimitable watchmaking heritage, L.Leroy has created the stunning unique piece “Minute Repeater Flying Tourbillon” inspired by a rare ancient pendant tact watch made by Leroy around 1810 for the Prince Emil Maximilian Leopold August of Hesse and which is now part of the prestigious collection of the Patek Philippe Museum.
At that period, when electricity was unknown and luminous hands were not yet invented, this type of watch allowed the time to be read, even in the dark, by touching the hand that moved in the direction of the twelve diamonds on the periphery of the case, acting as indices.
The L.Leroy Minute Repeater Flying Tourbillon is a grand complication watch with a very complex construction, both in terms of style and mechanics.
The case, measuring 43 mm in diameter, is crafted from two metals. The casebody, lugs, case back, repeater slide and crown are made of grade 5 titanium while the bezel and cover on the case back are made of PD210 18K palladium white gold.
Completely hand-engraved with a precious floral motif, an operation far from easy on titanium parts given its hardness, it took no less than 120 hours of work by highly skilled master engravers.
The transparent case back is protected by the 18K white gold cover which boasts a magnificent engraving that evokes another horological masterpiece from the Maison L.Leroy: the Leroy 01.
Awarded the Grand Prix at the Paris World Exhibition in 1900, it’s an impressive pocket watch with 975 components, 27 precise and functional indications including 17 relating directly to the measurement of time, exceptional decorations and engravings. It was considered the most complicated watch in the world until 1989.
The “L.Leroy Minute Repeater Flying Tourbillon” is complemented by an integrated aquamarine strap in soft calfskin. It fastens to the wrist with around folding clasp in 18K white gold, bearing the brand’s interlaced double “L” logo. In perfect harmony with the case, it is also engraved by hand.
The “L.Leroy Minute Repeater Flying Tourbillon” features a unique and out-of-the-ordinary time display for a model from the 2000s, but legitimised by the historical piece from which it takes its inspiration.
It has a rotating dial boasting a superlative flinqué soleil decoration with a translucent aquamarine varnish finish. This pattern emanates near a perimeter point, where the rhodium-plated, arrow-shaped, hand-engraved hour hand is fixed and extends its rays around the circumference of the display.
When the dial rotates, the arrow-shaped hand points towards the diamond markers set on the precious hand-engraved white gold bezel and indicates the hour. There are 24 diamonds totalling 1.35 carats, the larger ones mark the hours while the smaller ones indicate the half-hour.
To know the precise time, the minute repeater comes into action. This sophisticated mechanism, reputed to be the queen of complications, is developed on a hand-wound movement, which is also equipped with a flying tourbillon that improves its chronometric performance.
Once the repeater slide, positioned between 8:30 and 9:30, is activated, the time will be audible acoustically thanks to the finely tuned chiming mechanism.
The design of the case has been meticulously studied and developed to amplify the different tones of the sound indicating the hours, quarters and minutes emitted by the two gongs struck by the two hammers, visible on the case back.
The hand-wound in-house calibre, consisting of 321 components, beats at a frequency of 3Hz/ 21.600 vibrations per hour. It comprises the minute repeater mechanism on two gongs, a single barrel guaranteeing 90-hour power reserve and the flying tourbillon which performs a complete rotation in one minute.
This amazing movement with its single bridge, finely hand-engraved with hand-bevelled edges, can be admired by opening the 18K white gold cover on the case back using the discreet push-button at 4 o’clock.
Model: L.Leroy Minute Repeater Flying Tourbillon, Unique Piece
Movement
Manufacture manual-winding movement, minute repeater, flying tourbillon
Number of components: 321
Fitting diameter: 30 mm
Thickness: 8.89 mm
Number of jewels: 29
Vibrations per hour: 21.600 / Frequency: 3 Hz
Variable inertia balance wheel with flat balance-spring
Swiss lever escapement
Single barrel
Unique bridge with engraved floral decoration, hand-bevelled edges, rhodium-plated
Power reserve: 90-hour
Minute repeater on two gongs struck by two hammers: hours and quarters hammer on the right / Minutes and quarters hammer on the left (view from the case back)
Tourbillon cage
Diameter: 13.60 mm
76 parts
Complete rotation in 1 minute
Functions
Hours and half-hour indication
Minute-repeater on two gongs for audible hour, quarter and minute indication
Case
Case body, case back, repeater slide and crown in polished grade 5 titanium
Back cover, bezel and buckle in 18K palladium white gold (PD210)
Diameter: 43 mm
Thickness: 13.95mm, including back cover
Engraved repeater slide between 8:30 and 9:30
Push-button of the back cover: at 4:00 o’clock
Case, bezel and back cover fully hand-engraved
Back cover: hand-engraved motif on the outside, engraved L.Leroy logo on the inside
Inscription “Unique piece” on the case back
Diamond-set bezel: 24 diamonds, quality G +VS, totalling 1.35 carats
Water resistance: 3 ATM
Antireflective sapphire crystal glass on dial and case back
Dial
Rotating dial with flinqué soleil decoration, translucent aquamarine varnish finish
Fixed arrow-shaped rhodium plated hour hand, hand-engraved
Diamond hour markers on the bezel: 12 for the hour indication and 12 smaller ones for the half-hour indication
Strap
Aquamarine calf leather strap matching the dial colour
Round-shaped open worked folding buckle featuring the brand’s interlaced double “L” logo in 18K palladium white gold (PD210), hand-engraved.
Price
USD 370,000 excluding taxes
