The Sound Of Lucerne

The new Manero Minute Repeater Symphony is Carl F. Bucherer’s most complicated watch to date. WatchTime conducted a verbal sound check with No. 18 of 88.

- Mark Bernardo and Roger Ruegger

— Carl F. Bucherer and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra not only share a hometown, they recently have teamed up for the premiere of the brand’s most ambitious timepiece yet. Sascha Moeri, the CEO of Carl F. Bucherer, said, “A fine watch and a musical composition are similar in a number of ways. They are both created from many individual components that have to work together perfectly.” The Lucerne Festival’s Executive and Artistic Director Michael Haefliger seems to share his opinion, “A fine mechanical watch is a lot like a symphonic piece. They both reflect creative passion and combine art with craftsmanship. And each has the goal of stimulating an emotional response.”

The watch in question, the Manero Minute Repeater Symphony (Ref. 00.10925.03.63.01), even has its own soundtrack, written by Swedish composer Lisa Streich and titled “Periphery.” And the project itself has already stimulated an emotional response internally: the brand’s new flagship model was planned to premier during Baselworld 2020, but unfortunately had to be postponed due to Covid-19 and the show’s cancellation until Watches & Wonders in April 2021.

Since launching its first proprietary caliber, with its peripherally mounted winding rotor, in the Manero Peripheral timepiece, Carl F. Bucherer has adopted “peripheral” design as its tech-nical stock-in-trade. Moeri says, “Clearly, our accomplishments in peripheral technology have become our flagship. When we secured our patent on the peripheral winding system back in 2008, it sparked the passion that ultimately led to the creation of this new watch.”