Hi, Salman,
As I commented in the AP forum, you have the repeater bug BAAAAD, my friend! I am honored to be the one to infect you...
The Chronoswiss quarter repeater, with a DD quarter repeater module (so has the Kelek and Nivrel 5 minute repeaters at a few thousand dollars) actually sounds pretty good, surprisingly so (considering the new retail price)
Okay, right away a necessary clarification - there is no such thing as a "good" or "great" or "bad" repeater make and model; like wine, where there are no great labels or vintages, just great bottles, each repeater specimen MUST be taken on its own merits. There is just too much variability.
That said, a few HIGH PROBABILITY statements -
PP repeaters are most consistent, most musical, and sound "the best" - I have to grudgingly agree with MTF on this.
Blancpain repeaters are consistently the softest (there are many likely reasons, but along the same veins as the caveat against generalizations, no one, or few, variables ALWAYS result in the same result - small movement does not ALWAYS result in soft tones; platinum is not ALWAYS the softest sounding due to its high density; etc. I have EMPIRICALLY experienced this, so nyah nyah nyah to all the theory=truth guys; maybe this is why so many others with far less personal experience than I do usually come across sounding or reading so much more intelligent or "expert" than I do. I just don't allow "theory" or "knowledge" to override "reality" ;-) )
IWC's modular repeater is actually pretty nice sounding (note caveat above) and pretty affordable price wise.
PROPERLY servicing a repeater will likely run AT LEAST 4 figures; in the case of sonneries en passant, it can run into the 5 figures and upwards of a year; there just aren't enough watchmakers who are truly qualified to work on sonneries.
Which is one of the reasons why
a. used repeaters and sonneries are so heavily discounted from original retail - a large part of the depreciation is to price in the risk of improper use or service
b. you have to be careful when considering a used repeater or sonnerie - know the seller; this is MUCH MORE critical than with any other complication; and know the provenance (and this does not mean only knowing the current seller/owner; does he/she know the history BEFORE? It's all fine and good that the current owner is careful, honest, etc. He/she can honestly tell you everything he/she knows, and still not tell you the horror stories before he/she owned it.
So SteveH and other's comments about buying pre-owned is good advice, but BE CAREFUL.
Gotta run for now, will try to come back to this and any further comments / questions later if there's interest.
Cheers,
TM