"Almost exactly the same but executed with more finesse, the pocket watch is a perfect tribute to turn-of-the-19th century watchmaking."

A delightfully in-depth look at Philippe Dufour's Grande Sonnerie Pocket Watch No. 1 by JX Su, Sheng Lee, & Richard Lee.

One thing that has perplexed me about Philippe Dufour's Grand Sonnerie in the past, which this article addresses tangentially, is how Philippe would go about letting down the power in each of the gear trains when working on this piece—both in development and later on each time it required service. As it turns out, the satellite ratchet system nested into each of the ratchet wheels is not the full story. The visible ratchet system solely governs winding direction, similar to the way a pair of reversers would operate in an automatic winding system. Beneath these ratchet wheels is another set of clicks, which are responsible for holding the power in the barrels, and it is these clicks that a watchmaker would disengage to let down the power in a controlled manner. It's a masterful solution to a complex problem, in a masterfully complex watch.