ReviewThe Manero Minute Repeater Anniversary: Carl F. Bucherer’s Symphony In Six Parts

Carl F. Bucherer don’t make noise. They don’t need to. For 135 years, the Lucerne-based watchmakers have let their creations speak volumes through whisper-quiet innovation and meticulous craftsmanship. To mark their 135th anniversary in 2023, they released not one, but two trilogies of Manero Minute Repeater Anniversary timepieces.

These six unique watches showcase the CFB MR3000 movement—617 parts refined over six years of development. It’s the pinnacle of Carl F. Bucherer’s dedication to peripheral technology, a signature approach that distinguishes them in haute horlogerie. The movement’s complexity is matched by its elegance, featuring a floating tourbillon at 12 o’clock and minute repeater components visibly integrated into the dial design.

Each piece in these trilogies combines precious metals, rare gemstones, and bold colours. The first set plays with traditional aesthetics—yellow gold with moss green guilloche, white gold with ice-blue mother-of-pearl, and rose gold with a rainbow of gemstones. The second trilogy pushes boundaries further with vivid blue, green, and purple executions, each housed in rose-gold cases with matching gemstone bezels. They embody Carl F. Bucherer’s evolution, seamlessly blending traditional techniques with innovative engineering.

But First, The Movement

Inside each watch beats the CFB MR3000 movement, housing three peripheral complications in one calibre: the automatic winding system, floating tourbillon, and minute repeater regulator. The winding system employs an 18-karat gold bidirectional oscillating weight, matched to each watch’s colour scheme. By moving the rotor to the periphery, Carl F. Bucherer open up the movement for full display through the sapphire caseback.

The floating tourbillon at 12 o’clock breaks from tradition. Neither mounted on the main plate nor secured by bridges, it’s supported by three ceramic ball bearings on its periphery. This construction creates a distinctive floating-in-space visual signature while serving its mechanical purpose of counteracting gravity’s effects on timekeeping precision.

The minute repeater mechanism reveals its workings on the dial face—regulator at six o’clock, hammers visible at the base, circular gongs running along the case edge. Activating the mechanism triggers the hammers to strike these gongs, chiming the hours, quarter hours, and minutes in sequence. Between the gongs sits a space for personalisation through engraving.

Assembly demands extraordinary skill, with Carl F. Bucherer’s master watchmakers spending over a week on each piece. Despite its complexity, the movement maintains 65 hours of power reserve and meets chronometer certification standards, confirming its precision alongside its mechanical sophistication.

First Trilogy: A Study In Contrasts

The first Manero Minute Repeater trilogy opens with a study in classical elegance. An 18-karat yellow-gold case frames a moss green guilloche dial, hand-milled using a 200-year-old lathe. The pattern’s depth creates subtle light play across the surface, complemented by gold index marks and a matching moss green nubuck leather strap.

The second piece transitions to 18-karat white gold, housing a dial overlaid with light blue mother-of-pearl. The dial’s natural luminosity matches precisely with 40 ice-blue baguette-cut sapphires on the bezel—each stone naturally coloured and selected for matching brilliance and purity. A hybrid rubber strap adds contemporary flair to this ethereal composition.

Completing the first trilogy is perhaps its boldest statement: an 18-karat rose-gold case framed by a full-spectrum bezel. Forty baguette-cut gemstones—including tsavorites, sapphires, and rubies—create a seamless rainbow effect. Against a black sunray dial, these colours shine with particular intensity, matched by corresponding gemstone hour markers.

Second Trilogy: Embracing Bold Colours

The second trilogy shifts Carl F. Bucherer’s focus entirely to bold, vibrant expressions. Each piece starts with an 18-karat rose-gold case but takes a distinctly modern turn through their striking colour schemes and execution.

The first features forty 4.7-carat blue sapphires adorning the bezel, their deep azure hue matched perfectly in the degradé dial. A hand-stitched blue textile strap completes the monochromatic theme.

Its sibling mirrors this execution in vivid green, with forty 4.7-carat tsavorites circling the bezel. The same degradé technique is applied to the dial. 

The final piece explores the regal territory of purple, featuring forty 3.1-carat amethysts. The degradé dial here takes on an almost twilight quality, its colour deepening toward the edges. Like its companions, it maintains the diamond hour markers and colour-matched textile strap, though here the effect is particularly striking against the rose-gold case.

The second trilogy shifts Carl F. Bucherer's focus entirely to bold, vibrant expressions

Each oscillating weight is coloured to match its respective watch, a detail visible through the sapphire caseback.

Painstaking Artistry

Each Manero Minute Repeater embodies different finishes and techniques. The rainbow bezel alone required sourcing natural gemstones that could create perfect colour transitions. For the second trilogy’s monochromatic bezels, finding forty identical sapphires, tsavorites, or amethysts posed its own challenge.

The dials range from traditional to contemporary. A centuries-old machine created the guilloche pattern, while the mother-of-pearl dial required delicate hand painting from behind to preserve its translucent and luminous qualities. The degradé dials achieve their depth through careful hand-finishing, each colour gradually fading from centre to edge.

A centuries-old rose engine lathe crafts the intricate guilloche pattern on the dial

Final Thoughts 

These six Manero Minute Repeaters embody Carl F. Bucherer’s quiet confidence. They combine the brand’s technical prowess in peripheral complications with distinct artistic visions—from classical refinement to contemporary boldness. While each piece tells its own story through different metals, gems, and finishes, together they mark not just 135 years of watchmaking heritage, but Carl F. Bucherer’s continued evolution in haute horlogerie.

The Carl F. Bucherer Manero Minute Repeater Anniversary In A Nutshell

• First Trilogy:

• Ref. 00.10925.01.93.01:
  • Case: 18-karat yellow gold
  • Dial: Moss green guilloche
  • Strap: Moss green nubuck leather, 18-karat yellow gold folding clasp
  • Limited: Unique piece (1 of 1)

• Ref. 00.10925.02.83.11:
  • Case: 18-karat white gold, bezel set with 40 ice-blue baguette-cut sapphires (4.3ct)
  • Dial: Light ice-blue mother-of-pearl
  • Strap: Blue hybrid rubber with textile texture
  • Limited: Unique piece (1 of 1)

• Ref. 00.10925.03.39.11:
  • Case: 18-karat rose gold, bezel set with 40 rainbow gemstones (3.9ct)
  • Dial: Black sunray with rainbow gemstone markers
  • Strap: Black hybrid rubber with textile texture
  • Limited: Unique piece (1 of 1)

• Second Trilogy:

• Ref. 00.10925.03.54.11:
  • Case: 18-karat rose gold, bezel set with 40 blue sapphires (4.7ct)
  • Dial: Blue degradé with diamond markers
  • Strap: Blue textile
  • Limited: Unique piece (1 of 1)

• Ref. 00.10925.03.94.11:
  • Case: 18-karat rose gold, bezel set with 40 tsavorites (4.7ct)
  • Dial: Green degradé with diamond markers
  • Strap: Green textile
  • Limited: Unique piece (1 of 1)

• Ref. 00.10925.03.94.12:
  • Case: 18-karat rose gold, bezel set with 40 amethysts (3.1ct)
  • Dial: Purple degradé with diamond markers
  • Strap: Purple textile
  • Limited: Unique piece (1 of 1)

• Common Specifications:

• Movement: Automatic CFB MR3000, triple peripheral complications (winding, tourbillon, minute repeater), 617 components, COSC-certified chronometer; 65-hour power reserve
• Functions: Hours, minutes, small seconds on tourbillon cage, minute repeater with two gongs, stop-seconds