Talk:Repeater (horology)

Move article to Repeater (horology)?

This excellent article has spread beyond the topic 'Minute repeater'. As the article makes clear, there are many forms of repeater, differing only in their striking patterns, and it makes sense to cover them all in a single article. In addition, repeaters were used in clocks as well as watches; in fact they originated in clocks, and the mechanism and striking patterns are similar. I propose moving this article to 'Repeater (horology)', expanding it to cover clock repeaters too, and redirecting Minute repeater and other specialized repeater terms here. --Chetvorno^TALK 00:05, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

Done. Hope nobody minds. --Chetvorno^TALK 01:05, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

Merge Repeating clock into this article?

The stub Repeating clock comes under the topic area of this article, and merging it into the larger collection of repeater information found here make sense to me. Thoughts? --Chetvorno^TALK 20:08, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

Done --Chetvorno^TALK 12:32, 7 May 2008 (UTC)

Proposed merge with Grande sonnerie

Not enough information for an independent article. ««« SOME GADGET GEEK »»» (talk) 01:56, 20 February 2019 (UTC)

They should be merged. The second edition of Watkins "The Repeater" includes them. Summerleas (talk) 02:33, 20 February 2019 (UTC)

  Y Merger complete. Klbrain (talk) 13:42, 22 February 2020 (UTC)

How expensive?

This otherwise excellent and interesting article lacks one piece of information. Several times it comments that repeater watches were (and are) expensive. But what does that mean?

There is a scene in the film "Waterloo" which depicts a senior British officer asking another to "give this watch to my son". Assuming that watch was a repeater, is it feasible? Or would such a watch only have been owned by some aristocrat with more money than he knows how to spend? What did a repeater watch cost in 1815? An exact number isn't necessary if something can be sent said about who bought the watches. Would a junior army officer, who might find it useful, be able to afford one.

Watches also come up in the Sharpe series of films. Some officers scoff at Richard Sharpe because he doesn't own a watch. That implies that most officers did. But I have no idea of their cost. Would a repeater watch have been viewed as an expensive but necessary item of kit, much like a good sword or horse? Humphrey Tribble (talk) 17:13, 28 March 2022 (UTC)

I don't have any sources so for this and this is based on my personal knowledge, so take what i say with a grain of salt.

Repeaters are a very broad group; An officer could own a low grade quarter repeater. Today only high grade repeaters are being made, but back then there was good reason to produce affordable repeating watches to tell time in the dark. There are still tons of these made from the 1700s to the early 1900s (after which lured hands and electric light killed them) floating around, not crazy rare.

On the other end of the spectrum, clockwatches/sonneries (self striking, like a grandfather clock) have always been super rare; I read a book by an English watchmaker in the 1910s who said that as far as he knew self striking watches didn’t exist. An experienced watchmaker could go their whole career without ever seeing concrete evidence of their existence. These cost as much as a house.

As for how popular repeating watches were among the professional military, no clue, but I think an officer owning a repeating carriage clock would be more likely than a repeating pocket watch, at least in the early 1800s. PrismaCosmos (talk) 18:51, 29 March 2022 (UTC)