Sonnerie is French for "making sound" or "ring". The term generally applies to bell towers or bells in mechanical clocks or wristwatches (see for example grande sonnerie), but can equally be used, for example, for the sound produced by a telephone.

Sonnerie watches are revered by connoisseurs for chiming the time on tiny gongs on the hour and the quarter "in passing", and require highly skilled watchmakers as they "cannot be made satisfactorily through purely industrial means."[1]

When "Sonnerie" is used as the name of a musical composition, it bears connotations of:

References

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  1. ^ Jack Forster For whom the bell tolls; For thee if you wear a minute repeater, the most complicated watch there is page 101 December 2009 Forbes Life