Swiss minute repeater with Westminster carillon Circa 1905

Important gold hunting cased pocket watch by Ulysse Nardin
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A very fine and important Swiss minute repeating hunting cased pocket watch with Westminster carillon and original box, circa 1905. It has an 18 carat gold, engine turned, à goutte case with numbered and signed gold dome and slide for the repeating mechanism. The signed enamel dial features Arabic numerals, auxiliary seconds, and blued Breguet hands. The rhodium plated, ground bridge movement includes four hammers, four gongs, and a gold screw compensation balance.
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Diameter: 55 mm
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Weight: 126 g
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Signed: Ulysse Nardin Locle & Genève “Chronométre”
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Westminster Carillon
Watches with a carillon minute repeating mechanism are extremely rare; only a few pieces with Westminster chimes or four hammers are known today. The design was patented as patent no. 11948 on March 20, 1896, by Constant Piguet. The two other makers known to specialize in this type of watch were Eduard Jean Richard and Victorin Piguet. To the best of our knowledge, only three tunes were played by the four hammer carillons: Westminster chimes, the Swiss National anthem, and God Save the King.

To be correct, the Westminster chimes should be called Cambridge Chimes because they were first used in 1793 at St. Mary’s Church in Cambridge. They were co-written by Rev. Dr. Joseph Jowett, Dr. John Randall, and undergraduate William Crotch, who later became the first principal of the Royal Academy of Music. Lord Grimthorpe later used the tune for his great bell, nicknamed “Big Ben,” of the clock he designed at the north end of the Palace of Westminster. The chimes are said to be a variation of a phrase from Handel’s Messiah.