Blancpain has just pulled off something no one thought possible on the wrist: a grande sonnerie that plays two different melodies. Not two chimes. Two actual tunes, on demand, switched with a push of a button on the case. Welcome the Grande Double Sonnerie, ref. 15GSQ, and quite possibly the most complicated watch Blancpain has ever built.
A watch that hums two songs
Sounding watches usually work with two notes: a low one for the hour, a high one for the minutes. Blancpain decided that was not enough. So they built a movement with four hammers and four notes (Mi, Sol, Fa, Si), enough to play a real melody rather than a mechanical beep. The first tune is the classic Westminster chime, the one Big Ben made famous. The second is a brand new composition, written specifically for this watch by Eric Singer, longtime drummer of KISS, together with keyboardist Derek Sherinian. Singer joked that when Blancpain sent him the technical specs, he could not understand a word of it. Turning four fixed notes into a real piece of music was, in his words, the actual puzzle.
Getting four notes to sound in tune together, rather than just being individually pleasant, meant Blancpain had to laser-tune the gongs like an orchestra tuning to an oboe. They also needed rock steady tempo, since the human ear can catch timing errors as small as a tenth of a second. The fix is a silent magnetic regulator, a patented system that keeps the beat honest without adding any mechanical noise of its own.
More than just a music box
This is not only a sonnerie. The 15GSQ caliber also includes a petite sonnerie, a minute repeater, and a flying tourbillon, Blancpain’s own invention from 1989, now spinning at 4 Hz with a silicon balance spring. On top sits a retrograde perpetual calendar that had to be entirely reworked, since a normal calendar module would sit on its own plate and block the view of all that chiming machinery underneath. Instead, everything is built directly into the mainplate itself, correctors included, so nothing gets in the way of watching those four hammers do their thing.
The numbers alone tell you this was not a quick project. Eight years, 1,200 technical drawings, 21 patents (13 of them baked into the final watch), and 1,116 components total, all made and finished in house. The mainplate and bridges are cast in 18 ct gold, which sounds indulgent until you learn gold actually produces a warmer, more refined sound than the usual brass or German silver. It also happens to be a nightmare to hand finish, since it is soft and unforgiving of mistakes, which explains why each watch takes one watchmaker about a year to assemble from start to finish.
Small watch, big ambition
Despite carrying all that mechanical weight, Blancpain kept it wearable: 47 mm wide and 14.5 mm thick, which is large but not a doorstop for a watch this loaded. Two watchmakers, Romain and Yoann, build every single piece by hand, and only two are made per year. So if you want one, get in line early, or better yet, get in line with your bank manager.
CEO Marc A. Hayek compared listening to a fine sonnerie to tasting a great wine: not about volume, but clarity and resonance. Fair comparison. Both are things you sip slowly, both come with a price tag that makes you sit down first, and both, done right, genuinely make you smile.
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