Innovative technology in the watch allows for a louder and crisper sound. I’ve sampled a large amount of minute repeaters, sonneries, and other music watches over the years, and I can easily say that some sound great, and some barely produce a sound worthy of a $50 timepiece. One thing which can get annoying is the sound of an centrifugal air-regulation system for the musical function. It can produce a hiss that isn’t exactly luxury. Breguet has engineered this sound completely out of the Classique La Musicale. How? Well the music box regulation system now uses magnets versus the older style system that looks like a spinning fan.

I further suspect that the extremely precise components made from Liquidmetal also help produce the proper tones allowing for the sounds to be as loud as possible. There is no way of saying this for sure, but in all likelihood Breuget has developed one of the finest sounding musical watches ever with the Classique La Musicale.

At over 16mm thick and 48mm wide, the watch is certainly wearable, but probably large for most Breguet customers who are used to smaller pieces. Having said that, Breguet has offered some very large timepieces over the years, especially in the Type XXI and Marine collection. Few if any Classique collection models are anything near this size though. Breguet likely understands the “collector” nature of a watch like this which is why they have supplied a very nice house with the watch. The custom case includes a wooden “branch” for the Classique La Musicale 7800 to perch on. The special mount for the watch uses a light wood to help amplify the sound of the music so that it will sound its absolute best.

With a Breguet design, Breguet decoration, and Breguet engineering, the Classique La Musicale 7800 feels like something very special. Not limited, the piece will nevertheless be produced in very small quantities. Price is about $90,000. breguet.com