Blancpain CEO Marc A. Hayek (left) with summer and musician Eric Singer.

Blancpain

Compose a melody using only four notes—then make sure it sounds worthy of one of the most complicated mechanical wristwatches ever built.

That was the challenge facing Eric Singer, longtime drummer for KISS, when Blancpain invited him to help create a custom chime for its Grande Double Sonnerie, a multimillion-dollar grand complication introduced late last year.

The watch is no ordinary chiming minute repeater. Blancpain’s Grande Double Sonnerie combines grande sonnerie, petite sonnerie and minute repeater functions with a flying tourbillon and retrograde perpetual calendar. What truly sets it apart though, is that it offers the wearer a choice of two audible sounds: the coveted classic Westminster Chimes or a specially created Blancpain four-note original composition by Eric Singer.

For Blancpain, the approximately $2 million four-hammer, four-gong watch with all the other complexities was a technical feat years in the making. For Singer, it was a rare chance to merge two lifelong passions: music and watches.

“The main thing a drummer has to do is to keep time in any musical situation and that is exactly what a watch does, too, so I have always felt connected to watches,” Singer said. “Plus, they are all about micro mechanics. You're wearing a little living machine on your wrist that's also a functional piece. It’s form and function. I love all watches, but Blancpain is a brand that I have always been attracted to.”

Singer said his relationship with Blancpain CEO Marc A. Hayek developed naturally through years of shared enthusiasm for horology. “That started our friendship relationship, if you will,” he said, noting that today he owns several Blancpain watches in his large well-rounded collection.

Singer’s relationship with Hayek is what eventually led to this unusual assignment to compose something musical with severe limitations.

“Initially, I wasn’t sure exactly how what I composed would be used, but I was just honored to be asked to be involved in any way, especially something that such a unique type of watch,” said Singer, admitting that there were certainly challenges to tackle.

“It had its limitations because it only allowed four different notes, the four notes used for the Westminster chimes” Singer said. “In music you have octaves and that’s eight notes. You can write an entire song with eight notes and more if you count sharps and flats, but I only had four notes to work with.”

Singer enlisted his friend famed keyboardist Derek Sherinian and headed into Sherinian’s studio, where the challenge quickly became clear.

“We’re thinking on musical terms, but Blancpain is thinking in mechanical terms. They wanted an alternate melody [to the Westminster} so when the wearer flips a little switch on the side of the watch, they can play the other melody,” Singer said. “I don’t think that’s ever been done before and it was challenging to create a nice melody with just four notes.”

According to Singer, he and Sherinian tested numerous combinations and sequences over the course of several sessions before one option stood above the rest.

“We tried all the different options,” he said. “And it seemed unanimous that the sequence we chose was the one everybody gravitated towards. In the end it was Marc’s decision and he liked the one melody we liked.”

Interestingly, Singer was not fully aware of the scale of the entire project or what the watch was going to look like or do until he later visited Blancpain’s manufacture in Le Brassus, Switzerland.

“I had no idea of all the complications involved in this watch, from designing it to then actually making it a reality,” he said.

What impressed him most was the process of tuning the gongs so each note rang at the correct pitch.

“When I saw the process… they were using a computer to listen to the sound,” Singer said. “Then they would shave off parts of those little metal pieces… barely taking any metal off -- just enough to change the pitch.”

For a drummer, that precision felt familiar. Timing, rhythm and control are central to both music and watchmaking. “There is such a connection because a drummer is what? A timekeeper,” said Singer.

Singer has collected watches for decades and views them less as luxury objects than personal milestones. “Buying watches for me is sometimes a way to celebrate different things in your life,” he said, noting that he has often marked career moments l like the end of a tour with a special purchase. “I have a passion for music and the things I collect. To me, watches are my art and what I have a personal passion for.”

That perspective endowed the Blancpain project with an even deeper meaning for him because he was helping to shape one of the watch’s defining complications: its sound and cadence.