Best of All Worlds
With the Opera Godfather Minute Repeater, clients don’t have to choose between chiming out the time and playing music. This new grand complication timepiece combines a minute repeater, which chimes out the hours, quarters of hours, and minutes, with an on-demand two-comb, two-cylinder Swiss music box, playing the iconic theme from The Godfather.
Partnering with Paramount Pictures
Jacob & Co. has the exclusive rights, in partnership with Paramount Pictures, to use The Godfather logo and the haunting melody in this amazing Opera timepiece.
The Opera Godfather Minute Repeater honors this spectacular movie with its unique styling, its combination of complications, and its ability to play the theme music from The Godfather on demand.
The Minute Repeater
Long regarded the most complicated of movements, the minute repeater was the height of luxury when it was first introduced in the 1600s, the equivalent of a church clock in a timepiece. Getting the minute repeater absolutely perfect, from precision and tonal standpoints, is a huge challenge, and that’s why only a handful of brands include minute repeaters in their collections.
The minute repeater in the Opera Godfather uses two hammers to strike exposed circular gongs to sound out the hours, the quarters of hours, and the minutes. In the Opera Godfather Minute Repeater, the gongs circle above the dial, visible through the large sapphire crystal and rose gold case. This voluminous case enhances the clarity, tone, and richness of the sound of the gongs.
The minute repeater is actuated with a slide at 9 o’clock and the music is started by pressing the pusher at 8 o’clock. The watch is wound via the violin-shaped handle at 3 o’clock, and set using an 18K gold lift-out bow on the case back. The power reserve for the movement and the music box function are separate - the watch has a power reserve of 44 hours, while the music can be played three times before you have to wind it again.
The Swiss Music Box
Playing 120 notes, the two cylinders turn against the two, 30-pin combs to produce the beautiful theme music from The Godfather. Manufacturing these small cylinders requires incredible precision, so that the music plays exactly right. Watching these cylinders in motion is mesmerizing, an auditory and visual treat.
The Triple-Axis Tourbillon
With so much going on in this watch, you can almost forget about what many consider the ultimate in watchmaking, the tourbillon. The tourbillon Jacob & Co. uses in the Opera Minute Repeater is anything but a traditional tourbillon. Rather, it is a high-speed triple-axis tourbillon, turning in three minutes on one axis, 48 seconds on the second axis, and 24 seconds on the third. This ballet of high-end mechanics is in constant motion, keeping the timekeeping precise.
Timekeeping and Chiming
Unlike the other timepieces in the Opera Collection, the dial is static, the skeletonized hour and minute dial appearing to float in the center of the timepiece. Managing the power of the watch is critical, as now the timepiece adds a minute repeater, so the 758-component movement has to be robust enough to power the triple-axis tourbillon, the Swiss music box, and the minute repeater, while also being precise enough to manage the timekeeping and the coordination with the chiming of the minute repeater.
