The MID and Nav have an HOUR MEMO setting that will produce 3 pips (beeps) approx 15 seconds before each hour.
This is more of a Euro thing where there is a traffic broadcast at the top of the hour...and this little reminder can be initiated so that the driver can prepare to turn to the broadcast.
You don't have to "wait" to see if the HOUR MEMO is turned on...you can look directly at your MID or Nav screen and see if the HOUR MEMO ICON is illuminated.
On the MID...it's the "sound wave" icon "
*)))" to the far right of the MID's display...to the right of the TIME displayed in the image below:
The Nav monitor has a similar HOUR MEMO ICON that will be displayed if you have this feature activated. On the wide screen monitor...the icon is located in the blue band along the bottom center of the screen (in between the TIME and the DATE):
Here's the explanation from the owners manual:
HOUR MEMO info for Nav monitor
HOUR MEMO info for BMWs with the MID
BTW...this HOUR MEMO feature has been a BMW feature for decades...below is the feature mentioned in my 1991 735iL's owners manual:
