Girard-Perregaux released an interesting, ultra-light minute repeater at Baselworld 2016 the Limited Edition Titanium Tourbillon Minute Repeater.

Its titanium case measures (45 mm x 9.35 mm), and is not only significantly lighter than the 18K gold version, but it also has better sound resonance – thanks to the use of titanium – which is crucial to any minute repeater. Further, a unique, open-worked dial and mainplate, offer an incredible view into the Tourbillon Minute Repeater movement, without needing to turn the watch over. Of course, the back is a sight to be seen as well.

The hours and minutes are indicated on the titanium outer ring, marked with pink gold indexes for the hours, which contrasts nicely with the matte titanium finish, and dots for the minutes. The hour and minute hands are in pink gold as well and have been skeletonized, staying consistent with the theme of the dial. Manually wound caliber GP09500-0003 has 38 jewels and a 60-hour power reserve and drives the tourbillon, minute repeater, hours, and minutes.

A lever on the left side of the case activates the minute repeater chiming of the time, on-demand. I did not have a chance to spend much time with the watch, but I do recall how impressively light it was. And while the room where I previewed the watch at Baselworld was far too noisy to evaluate the sound properly – the sound is said to be very loud compared to the identical version in a white gold case. The watch comes with a black alligator strap with a deployant buckle in titanium. Water resistance is 30 meters. Production of the Girard-Perregaux Titanium Tourbillon Minute Repeater (Ref. 99820-21-001-BA6A), is limited to 30 numbered pieces. The approximate retail price is $350,000.