GübelinThis company began in 1854 as a family business run by Maurice Breitschmid in Lucerne, Switzerland. He first advertised as a watchmaker, and as business grew, Breitschmid brought on his son-in-law, Jacques-Edouard Gübelin as a partner. Gübelin eventually took over the company. He introduced jeweled watches and jewelry to the business in 1921 at the opening of their New York branch, after collaborating with the jeweler Edmond Frisch. Gübelin also opened branches in St. Moritz, Zurich, Geneva, Brne, Lugano, and Basel. Gübelin’s sons eventually entered the family business; his eldest Dr. Edouard Gübelin opened a lab of gemmology and made a name for himself internationally, while his youngest son, Walter, was drawn toward artistic expression and contributed to the company through his creative designs. This successful company has created superior quality clocks and watches for more than a century. What is a Minute Repeater? A minute repeating watch tells the time both visually and audibly. A slide on the side of the case, usually near the #9, will activate two hammers in the movement. These hammers strike two gongs curled within the case. First one hammer strikes a gong of lower tonality; it will count out the hours. Then both hammers will strike both gongs alternatively to count out the quarter hours after that hour, and then the second hammer alone striking a gong of higher tonality will count out the minutes aftr that quarter hour. The repeating mechanism was developed by Daniel Quare. In 1687, he had patented a mechanism that sounded the hours and the quarter hours. The early repeaters used bells. At the end of the 18th century, two bent-wire gongs became the more popular mechanism. In 1892, the first minute repeater wristwatch was produced by Omega, a model with a round-shaped case.The repeating device was invented and patented by Daniel Quare, a famous English watchmaker, in 1690. Repeating watchesn any circumstance allowed their owner to know the time: at night, in a dark street, and make it possible for the blind to tell time, etc. Since then, most watchmakers and manufacturers have created quarter and minute repeating watches.The first minute repeating wristwatch ever known was made by Omega in 1885. Since the beginning of the 20th century, many of the most important creators, watchmakers or manufacturers, have produced minute repeating wristwatches, always in limited editions, for themost sophisticated collectors in the world.