The Audemars Piguet complication first shown in a wristwatch in 1892 that chimes hours, quarters and minutes was the minute repeater.
A minute repeater is a striking mechanism that reports the time on demand. Traditionally, low notes indicate hours, combinations of high and low notes indicate quarter-hours, and high notes indicate minutes since the last quarter. Audemars Piguet presented one of the earliest known minute-repeater wristwatches in 1892.
The complication is distinct from a simple repeater, which may strike only hours or hours and quarters. It is also different from a sonnerie, which can strike automatically at set intervals. Minute repeaters are mechanically complex because they require a separate set of racks, snails, hammers and gongs to translate the displayed time into sound.