Ulysse Nardin

• automatic jeweled nickel lever movement, striking on two gongs, mono-metallic balance • blue guilloché enamel dial, applied Roman and baton indexes, applied jacquemarts simulate striking in unison with the repeating chimes • 18k white gold circular case, repeating slide to the band, snap-on sapphire crystal display back • case, dial and movement signed • with an 18k white gold Ulysse Nardin buckle

Ulysse Nardin minute repeaters are a technical marvel with visual and auditory charm, incorporating both automata and chiming to announce the hours, quarters and minutes.  Jacquemart automata are a wonderfully playful complication, particularly when combined with a sophisticated minute repeating mechanism.  Thus timepieces, such as the present example crafted in 18k white gold, have immense appeal among collectors.

The use of Jacquemart automata on the dial dates to the Western Middle Ages, when men were employed to strike bells in the clock towers to publicly announce the time.  Later they were replaced by life-size mechanical figures called Jacquemart, created to amuse the public by striking bells in large public clocks.  Such Jacquemart can be found in Venice at the Piazza San Marco and the oldest (1368) in the tower of Dijon.