Since its creation in 1735 in Villeret, the Blancpain manufacture has been synonymous with elegance and technical savoir-faire. Invented in 1750 by Thomas Mudge (1715- 1794), the minute repeater is a master complication of the art of watchmaking. Initially designed to tell the time in the dark, it remains one of the most difficult complications to achieve and one of the most appreciated. Thanks to a complex mechanism comprising two gongs struck by hammers and a mechanical memory activated by means of a slide, the minute-repeater sounds the hour with two tones. A low-pitched chime sounds to indicate the hours, followed by two rings – the first high, the second low – for the quarter-hours, and lastly a high note for each minute. The construction of a minute-repeater is so demanding that only a few of these watches, individually numbered, leave the manufacture workshops each year.