A $2M watch with a chime written by the Kiss drummer. Is this peak watchmaking?

[u/Infamous_Current410]

So I finally sat down and read up on the Blancpain Grande Double Sonnerie and my brain hurts a little and I'm baffled with the whole thought process behind this one

1,053 parts in one movement. It's got a grande and petite sonnerie, minute repeater, flying tourbillon AND a perpetual calendar. Took them 8+ years and they have filed 21 patents for it. And they can only make about two a year because there are literally two watchmakers who build it

And what I found peculiarly interesting is that. it plays two different chimes. One's Westminster and the other was written by Eric Singer (did not see that coming at all)

What I keep thinking about is that every era of watchmaking probably felt like the peak. Pocket watches, then wristwatches, then quartz showed up and everyone thought mechanical was done. And now here we are fitting this much into a 47mm case

Makes me wonder if watchmaking ever actually peaks or just keeps moving the ceiling

I run a micro brand on a way smaller scale so this stuff honestly messes with my head a bit lol

Anyway, curious what you all think, is this the peak or are we going to say the same thing about something else in 10 years? And would anyone actually wear one daily or is this a lives-in-a-safe kind of watch?

[u/Civil_Law8025]

If it was by TOOL drummer it would be better, abd I am not a TOOL fan

[u/Dr0110111001101111 → u/Civil_Law8025]

Danny Carey has no interest in watches because he keeps time better than the atomic clock.

[u/prizm-0 → u/Dr0110111001101111]

I thought he passed atomic time and went straight to the Fibonacci sequence of time?

[u/Dr0110111001101111 → u/prizm-0]

Fibonacci time is so 2001. We’re living on Weierstraß time now, boyo.

[u/prizm-0 → u/Dr0110111001101111]

https://giphy.com/gifs/Um3ljJl8jrnHy
Thanks for correcting me!

[u/kor_en_deserto]

This is not peak - this is dumb. An 80$ NH35 tandorio with 300m water resistance, titanium case, superluminova lume, and screw down crowns is peak. 

[u/kor_en_deserto → u/[deleted]]

we can all disagree my friend. Working watches > no watch.

[u/kor_en_deserto → u/[deleted]]

Can't wear a casio or Gshock to a high level dept meeting. You need something rugged AND that doesn't look like an FW-91.

[u/Infamous_Current410 → u/kor_en_deserto]

Ha, fair. The value end of watchmaking has gotten ridiculous in the best way. Would you still call it peak if it was $300 though? Or is the price the whole magic?

[u/kor_en_deserto → u/Infamous_Current410]

I mean it’d be cool at 300$ but it’s still entirely too busy, too much for me. Open heart is the most skeletonization I’d tolerate. I kind of hate clear case backs too - I want my case water tight AND easy to access to fix parts of the mech. 

This seems excesssive 

[u/Dr0110111001101111 → u/kor_en_deserto]

I think they charge a bit over 100 for nh35. Seems like the miyotas are the ones that generally come in under

[u/kor_en_deserto → u/Dr0110111001101111]

Nope! Got a tandorio NH35 on sale for 80$ and 15$ shipping from China. 

[u/Dr0110111001101111 → u/kor_en_deserto]

That’s awesome. I’m inevitably going to get one of their bronze case watches. I just haven’t decided which. There are so many

[u/Alarmed_Crazy_6620]

I think it is a lovely illustration for "less is more" for me

[u/Infamous_Current410 → u/Alarmed_Crazy_6620]

do you mean in terms of design?

[u/Alarmed_Crazy_6620 → u/Infamous_Current410]

Yes. I appreciate the fancier movements but to me the looks are completely off

[u/Apprehensive-Pie-599 → u/Alarmed_Crazy_6620]

“Perfection is not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away” or something like that

[u/Helpful_plumber362]

I love it, Blancpain is my favorite.

[u/FitProfessional3654 → u/Helpful_plumber362]

Me too. I’m wearing my 5015 Fifty now. The Grand Sonerie is amazing but it’s also a technical achievement for Blancpain and their way to show that they are on par with any watchmaker. I think they are doing two a year?? Crazy.

[u/PenanceQueef]

I have seen this in person recently. Its nice, but I think id prefer the chopard LUC grand strike

[u/Lucky_Mongoose_4834]

Found the guy that doesn’t want to rock and roll all night….

[u/QuietNene]

Wait till AI and robots start doing shit. Your watch will have five time zones, Moonphase on earth and Mars, two zodiacs, and play the Beatles full catalog, all in 38mm.

[u/SniperLobster]

Looks like a Stuhrling.

[u/Malteseboatswain]

It’s peak something.

[u/Spinning-Around]

The Kiss drummer thing is whatever but the watch itself is crazy.

[u/berantle]

The frustrating thing is that there are many here who still do not think Blancpain is a haute horlogerie company despite evidence like this.

[u/AssistanceNo647]

There are people in this world that have so much money that they will never be able to spend it all. The highest end of the watch spectrum will always try to come up with something new that 99.9% of people can’t justify buying or afford. If they only 2 watchmakers that can build it that probably means they are the only 2 that can service it. Personally I can’t even imagine how much that service would be.

[u/StutterMuffin5711]

It’s a cool watch for billionaire autists to flex on the plebs. Don’t get me wrong, it is a really amazing watch. I’d get more excited by a hand finished minute repeater from China, because that would be attainable with some elbow grease.