The Mozart-Tchaikovsky Selector

[beamjockey]

I just like the idea of a "Mozart-Tchaikovsky Selector." It is a feature of the Girard-Perregaux Haute Horlogerie Opera Three watch, which, as you can see, contains a 20-note, two-track music box movement.



Therefore it is quite logical, as you can see on the front of the watch, that the Opera Three should have a Mozart-Tchaikovsky Indicator as well.



Strangely, none of the watch-snob sites I have examined can say which tunes of the master composers the watch actually plays. If I am to plunk down $475,000 for one of these gadgets, I wish to know. It would make a difference.

Roger Zimmermann, my maven of all matters horological, says the music-box drums are hand-made.

Perhaps, if I slipped Girard-Perregaux an extra hundred thousand or so, they would be willing to tell the little Swiss guy who puts pins in the drum to substitute "Benson, Arizona" for "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik."

Comments

[blueeyedtigress.livejournal.com]

Have I mentioned recently that I like the way you think, sir? ;]

(Glitch on the Benson link, BTW.)

[whl.livejournal.com]

As I assume you have a relatively modern cellphone, do you have Benson, Arizona set up as a ringtone?

(I know it lacks the classical elegance of a fine Swiss mechanical timepiece/music box, but what can I say? I'm the kind of philistine that wears a Casio "Atomic" watch. (I still wonder if that shouldn't have come with a filmbadge for under the back...)

And having recently actually held a 1 GB MicroSD memory card in my hands, I wonder how long it will be before watches take that for sound data. (Well, I say I held it. It's more like I dropped it, and I'm sure it's around here somewhere.)

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

This is actually a pet peeve of mine concerning baby toys that play classical tunes, as many of them do now thanks to bogus theories about brain development. Typically the packaging, advertising and such makes no mention of what pieces are being played beyond prominent mention of Mozart (the favored composer for prodigizing your child); there's no respect for the material. You can just dump some Mozart in there in quantity--it's all the same, right?

[tigertoy.livejournal.com]

I once had a Casio that played Für Elyse as the alarm. I was bummed when I lost it because the band broke. So I understand having a watch that plays music. But I just cannot get my head around the notion that anyone would spend $475,000 on a wristwatch. It's obscene.

The old Ludwig Van

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

Beethoven's greatest ringtone!

[stickmaker.livejournal.com]

What's the data storage density on that mini-drum drive? :-)