La Clémence

Geneva’s Place Bourg de Four, a magnet for the city’s movers and shakers, opens its sidewalk cafés to residents and visitors alike. Just behind, the landmark Saint Pierre cathedral makes itself heard with its 45 bells. The greatest of them is called la Clémence. Hanging in the north tower, it has given its name to a well-known café. Today, at official celebrations, the voice of La Clémence joins the harmony of five other bells: l'Éveil, L'Espérance, La Collavine, La Bellerive and L'Accord, which call the faithful to prayer every weekend.
La Clémence was cast by the Geneva magister campanarum, Guerri de Marclay, and installed in 1407. In those days, the cathedral was yet to become the scene of the spiritual awakening that created the motto, Post Tenebras Spero Lucem (I hope for the light after darkness). The original inscription carved into the rim has thus survived: Vox mea cunctorum est terror doemoniorum (my voice strikes terror in demons).
“A world first:
Tourbillon minute-repeater
with crazy hands”
La Clémence is the name given to Spero Lucem’s new 2013 model. Giving such a name to an intriguing minute-repeater with a traditional gong is a fitting tribute to the city from which the brand draws its identity. Yvan Arpa chose to name this gong Saint Pierre (St. Peter) to honour his friend Pierre-Laurent Favre, who developed the movement, as well as in reference to Geneva’s famous cathedral. This remarkable watch also accommodates a one-minute tourbillon and a third complication that has never been seen before: when the repeater starts striking, the hands go completely “crazy”.
This playful world première is filled with meaning: since the purpose of the minuterepeater’s complex mechanism is to indicate the time by sound, it makes sense to do everything possible so that the user can concentrate on the sound without being tempted to use his eyes to confirm what is heard. But after the magic of sound the miracle of sight suddenly reclaims its rights: a mechanical memory brings the hands of La Clémence to their proper places, in step with time. The tourbillon cage is inspired by the head of the pastoral key appearing on the Geneva coat-of-arms. The sunburst snailed engraving on the dial echoes the feathers of the imperial eagle’s wing. On the back of La Clémence, the eagle’s crown forms the bridge of the centrifugal governor