Free tools Windows power users keep installed
One-click scans. No signup required.
Unveiled on November 24, 2025, the Blancpain Grande Double Sonnerie combines automatic grande and petite sonnerie striking with an on-demand minute repeater, a flying tourbillon and a retrograde perpetual calendar. Its defining feature is a choice between Westminster chimes and an original four-note melody. Blancpain describes that two-melody option as a first for a wristwatch. This is a launch overview, not a hands-on review: the available information establishes the manufacturer’s claims and specifications, not independent testing of the watch on the wrist or of its sound.
What does a grande sonnerie watch do?
A grande sonnerie announces the passing time automatically: it strikes the hours and quarters without the wearer having to activate it. A minute repeater, by contrast, chimes the time on demand when the wearer operates its control. The Grande Double Sonnerie combines both functions, as well as petite sonnerie.
Petite sonnerie does not describe one universal striking sequence. Depending on the construction, a petite sonnerie may strike only the hour, or sound the quarters without repeating the hour. Blancpain’s explainer distinguishes these automatic sonnerie modes from the minute repeater, but the launch material does not establish every sequence detail for each operating mode on this specific watch.
The Grande Double Sonnerie has separate barrels for timekeeping and the striking functions. Blancpain says the sonnerie barrel powers its grande sonnerie, petite sonnerie and minute repeater.
#1 Best Overall
How does it play two melodies?
Four notes, four hammers
The watch uses four notes—E, G, F and B—and a separate hammer for each. Blancpain describes two quarter racks, each cut for a different melody. A pusher in the case selects either the Westminster sequence or the original melody composed by musician Eric Singer.
A longer musical strike on the hour
Blancpain says the watch plays the full four-quarter melody on the hour, rather than limiting the top-of-the-hour strike to the hour note. Its technical booklet describes the usual hour-only strike at that point, making the full melody an extended performance relative to that convention.
Rank #2
- Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Chronograph Automatic Men's Watch 5200-1110-NABA
The four-note limit shaped Singer’s composition. He said that having only four available notes was an immense constraint for a musician, and that turning it into music was the central puzzle of the collaboration. Blancpain and Swatch Group associate the Westminster melody with 1793 and Cambridge’s Church of St. Mary the Great, and say it later became known through its association with London’s Big Ben; that provenance is the companies’ account.
What does Blancpain say about the sound engineering?
Blancpain says its gold gongs were tuned to the intended notes and that a magnetic regulator controls the chiming tempo without adding regulator noise. The company describes micron-scale manual adjustment and a tempo tolerance of one tenth of a second. These are manufacturer-reported engineering details, not independently measured performance results.
Rank #3
- Blancpain Villeret Ultra Slim Automatic White Dial Retrograde Men's Watch 6653Q-1127-55B
An acoustic membrane integrated into the bezel is intended to improve sound transmission. Blancpain’s booklet identifies that construction as one of 13 patents incorporated into the watch. The available material does not provide independent sound measurements or establish how the watch compares acoustically with other chiming watches.
What else is in the movement?
Flying tourbillon
The watch has a flying tourbillon with a silicon balance spring and a stated operating frequency of 4 Hz. Blancpain says it first unveiled its flying tourbillon in 1989; both the historical account and the technical specifications are manufacturer-reported.
Retrograde perpetual calendar
A retrograde perpetual calendar is integrated into the movement. Blancpain says it reworked the calendar construction to preserve an open view of the sonnerie mechanism. The calendar’s under-lug correctors are designed for fingertip adjustment without tools.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How large is the case, and what are the project figures?
The dimensions published by Blancpain are 47 mm in diameter, 54.6 mm lug-to-lug and 14.5 mm thick. Those measurements describe the case; they do not, on their own, establish how it will wear on a particular wrist.
| Published figure | Blancpain’s stated detail |
|---|---|
| Development | Eight years (Blancpain, 2025) |
| Design work | 1,200 technical drawings (Blancpain, 2025) |
| Patents | 21 developed, with 13 incorporated into the final construction (Blancpain, 2025) |
| Components | 1,053 in the movement and 1,116 in total (Blancpain, 2025) |
| Movement architecture and finishing | 26 bridges and the mainplate in 18 ct gold; 135 inward angles in the stated hand-finishing (Blancpain, 2025) |
| Assembly | Blancpain says each watch is individually assembled by one of two named watchmakers, with nearly 12 months of work per watch (Blancpain, 2025) |
These are the brand’s published project figures; they have not been independently counted or verified here. Blancpain calls the Grande Sonnerie one of watchmaking’s most difficult complications and says it wanted a version owners could wear rather than one intended simply to reside in a safe. The stated dimensions are useful context, but do not substantiate that wearability claim for every wearer.
What remains unconfirmed?
The official material available for the November 2025 launch does not establish a price, production quantity or current ordering status. Blancpain says pieces can be custom-made, but that statement alone does not confirm that orders are currently open. The manufacturer’s specifications and descriptions also do not substitute for independent verification of sound quality, performance or comparative superiority.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
