A minute repeater without a sonnerie is the more focused proposition and, in the Code 11.59 collection, the more considered one. Striking in passing requires a movement to carry energy for continuous operation and adds mechanism that must be kept clear of the chiming train. Removing it leaves a watch whose only job is to sound the time on demand and to sound it as well as possible, which is what the Supersonnerie architecture was developed to do. The case is white gold at 41 mm with a grey smoked sapphire dial and a snailed silver-grey inner bezel. Removing the sonnerie also removes the largest single demand on the movement. A watch striking in passing has to hold a reserve for continuous operation, and a repeater does not, which means the energy available can be directed at the strike itself rather than divided between striking and keeping enough in hand to continue.
The case is white gold at 41 mm in the Code 11.59 construction, round when viewed from above and octagonal through the middle, with hollowed lugs welded to the case band rather than machined from it. The dial is smoked sapphire in grey, which means it is transparent and darkened towards the edge, so the movement is partly visible through the front and the degree of that visibility changes across the surface. White gold stick hands cross it. The inner bezel is snailed silver-grey, a concentric brushing that catches light differently from the flat surfaces around it and gives the dial a defined outer boundary without introducing a colour. The watch comes on a grey alligator strap with an AP folding clasp, and a grey textured rubber strap is available on request, which is a practical acknowledgement that a watch of this order might be worn in more than one context. The smoked treatment is also doing work beyond appearance. A fully transparent dial would show the movement uniformly and leave the hands difficult to follow, while darkening the sapphire towards the edge gives the outer portion of the display enough density to read against, so the time remains legible while the centre stays open. That balance is harder to strike than a fully open dial or a solid one, both of which resolve the problem by refusing it.
The function set is a minute repeater with the Supersonnerie architecture, alongside hours, minutes and small seconds. The repeater sounds hours, quarters and minutes on demand from a slide in the case band. Supersonnerie is the construction rather than the striking sequence, mounting the gongs on a dedicated soundboard rather than on the mainplate and reworking the case so that sound can leave it, which produces greater volume and a longer decay than a conventional repeater of the same dimensions. Regulation is done by ear, since tone, evenness and the spacing between strikes cannot be specified on a drawing and no two examples of identical dimensions sound the same. That variability is inherent rather than a tolerance, and it is why a repeater should be heard before it is bought and why two examples of one reference are not interchangeable in the way two examples of a time-only watch are. Anyone buying at this level should insist on hearing the specific watch rather than accepting a demonstration on another example of the same reference.
Within the current Code 11.59 selection this is the only reference where a repeater stands alone. Three grande sonnerie references sit above it, adding automatic striking in two modes, and the RD#4 reference combines a grande sonnerie with a tourbillon and two chronographs. Elsewhere in the wider collection the Royal Oak carries its own Supersonnerie references, so the architecture spans both case families rather than belonging to one. A smoked sapphire dial on a chiming watch is also worth noting, since a transparent dial adds a component between the movement and the crystal and every such element has some acoustic consequence.
This reference is for a collector who wants the sound and nothing arranged around it. Sonnerie modes are impressive and they are also a great deal of mechanism to accept in exchange for a function most owners use rarely, and there is a serious argument that a repeater alone is the better watch. Grey on white gold is the quietest presentation the collection offers at this level, giving no external indication of what the case contains beyond the slide. The second strap is the detail that signals intent, since a house supplying rubber alongside alligator on a watch of this order expects it to be worn rather than displayed. That expectation is reasonable on a repeater specifically, since the complication produces nothing at all unless the owner uses it, and a watch kept aside offers less than a plain one would. That is the argument for buying a repeater to use rather than to hold, and this reference is specified accordingly, with a second strap supplied and a dial that gives no external indication of what the case contains. There is also an etiquette to a repeater that new owners tend to discover rather than be told. The strike is audible to anyone nearby, takes several seconds to complete and cannot be stopped once started, so using it in company is a small act with an audience. Owners generally learn to use it privately, or not at all in certain settings, which is why the complication is so often described as personal rather than social. The second strap fits that reading. A watch supplied with rubber alongside alligator is expected to travel and to be worn where a formal strap would be wrong, and a repeater that goes to those places is one that will actually be used rather than admired.
