News: Cartier Rotonde De Cartier Minute Repeater Mysterious Double Tourbillon
In 1912, Cartier unveiled the ‘Mystery Clock’, an iconic creation that amazed audiences worldwide with its apparently invisible mechanism and ‘floating’ hands. In reality, the hands were mounted on clear, rotating disks, creating the illusion of invisibility; it was a clever deception that made the clock incredibly popular, both then and now.
Honouring that legacy, Cartier has released the (somewhat of a mouthful) Rotonde De Cartier Minute Repeater Mysterious Double Tourbillon. For this technically intriguing and beautiful watch, the brand has united two impressive feats of watchmaking: the Mysterious complication and the minute repeater.
Like the hands of the first Mystery Clocks, the tourbillon of this piece appears to float free of all bonds in a window between 10 and 12 o’clock. It is in fact locked into a sapphire disc, which rotates every five minutes, with the tourbillon itself turning every one minute; the result is a truly mesmerising display of high-end horology.
The minute repeater, meanwhile, is visible most clearly at 6 o’clock, where two hammers strike gongs, chiming the hours tuned to the note B and the minutes to the note D. The watch is designed specifically to create the best acoustics for the chimes; the 33mm Rotonde case is made of titanium, while the gongs are hardened steel, producing a powerful and pleasing note. A flywheel, visible at the 7 o’clock position, keeps the chimes consistent in clarity from one to the next.
The watch is powered by the calibre 9407 MC, a manual movement that is crafted in-house by Cartier. It bears the Geneva Seal, and offers a power reserve of 48 hours. The Cartier Rotonde De Cartier Minute Repeater Mysterious Double Tourbillon is limited to 50 pieces in titanium, 30 pieces in platinum with a diamond set bezel, and 20 in platinum with a pavé diamond dial and bezel.
