If the tourbillon is so ‘extra’, then why are watch lovers still obsessed with it?
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If the tourbillon is so 'actress', and then why are watch lovers however obsessed with it?
We'll respond that by exploring the beautiful, crazy and largely unnecessary world of this hypnotic complexity.
Audemars Piguet recently unveiled a pair of Code 11.59 Selfwinding Flying Tourbillons, with new dials made of blue aventurine in a white gilded example, and black aventurine in a pink golden case. (Photo: Audemars Piguet)
18 January 2022 06:30AM (Updated: 09 Jul 2022 01:20AM)
In the superlative world of haute horlogerie, the tourbillon is probably the most pop complication that doesn't really exercise anything.
It was invented over 200 years ago by Abraham-Louis Breguet to help pocket watches fight the pesky effects of gravity on the motion. Because pocket watches were often only in two positions (upright in a pocket or flat on a surface), its delicate inner mechanisms would suffer from unilateral drag caused by earth'south pull.
To circumvent this, Breguet devised a small cage in which to mount the nigh important components – the escapement and balance wheel – and had information technology constantly rotate so as to negate positional errors. He chosen it a "tourbillon", significant "cyclone" in French, and earned a patent for it in 1801.
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It was ingenious, mesmerising and useful. Simply as the earth slowly moved onto wristwatches, quartz watches and in some cases no watches at all, the tourbillon became irrelevant. So instead it only persisted through sheer beauty and the pursuit of excellence.
Tourbillons however aren't easy to design or make, frequently requiring at to the lowest degree 40 parts to put together. In the luxury sector, where everything relies on flex, tourbillons have become a way for the most adept of watch brands to show off their know-how.
The many impressive permutations of this not-at-all-humble complication has evolved into arguably justifies the extra zeroes they add to their scout. If a sentinel has a tourbillon, chances are it will be the first matter you expect at – and it volition be difficult to look away.
Here, nosotros pause downwardly the various types of tourbillon that you might find spinning away merrily on your dial or case dorsum.
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Flight TOURBILLON
The flying tourbillon gets its name from its suspended advent on the dial. It is supported not past a typical top span simply from one side only, thus offering a better view of the mechanism.
Audemars Piguet released a slew of them recently for the Imperial Oak (a outset for the line) and the Code 11.59. The quondam now offers three new references in pink golden, titanium, and steel respectively, while the latter presents new dials made of black aventurine in a pinkish gold case, and a smoked blue dial in a white gold example. All are powered past the self-winding Calibre 2950.
The invention of the flight tourbillon is most oftentimes credited to Glashutte watchmaker Alfred Helwig in 1920. Then to celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2020, Glashutte Original unveiled the 25-piece limited edition Alfred Helwig Tourbillon 1920, a watch and then truthful to the era that inspired information technology that it actually hides the tourbillon to keep the punch clean and unassuming. Y'all'll still be able to adore its construction, as well as the residuum of the motion'southward ornamentation and finishing, from the exhibition case back.
MULTIPLE-AXIS TOURBILLON
Regular tourbillons rotate on just one axis, spinning around neatly in a circle (unremarkably) once per infinitesimal. And so multi-centrality tourbillons are ones that spin on two to three dissimilar axis points with a goal to abolish gravity'due south effects in any possible position.
Thomas Prescher was the outset to accomplish a multi-axis tourbillon in a wristwatch in the early 2000s, but complication powerhouse Jaeger-LeCoultre followed closely behind, and its Gyrotourbillons are some of the near famous examples today.
Its last incarnation was the Gyrotourbillon 3 Meteorite from 2019, a starry facelift based on the original Gyrotourbillon 3 from 2013.
There's nothing subtle about multi-axis tourbillons to brainstorm with, but Franck Muller's new Vanguard Revolution 3 Skeleton will make sure you never forget what it is you lot're wearing. Part of the sapphire crystal is domed on the front and dorsum to human action as a magnifying glass for the triple-centrality tourbillon.
MULTIPLE TOURBILLONS
Another solution watchmakers have is to just throw more tourbillons at the problem, and it'due south often also a really flamboyant one. The Breguet Classique Double Tourbillon Ref. 5345 Quai de fifty'Horloge exposes the entire movement in its full celebrity, and the plate on which it is mounted actually rotates along with the hour paw. Each tourbillon is driven by its own butt (shaped similar a Breguet "B"), and the combined output is averaged by a fundamental differential.
Harry Winston seems to believe more is more, and so its Histoire de Tourbillon ten – the final spotter in a tourbillon series that began in 2009 – has iv of them. Unlike Greubel Forsey's quadruple tourbillon watches, the Histoire de Tourbillon 10 is the first to to comprise four tourbillons with iv separate balances. All the tourbillon cages rotate once every 36 seconds, while the tourbillons themselves run at iv slightly different rates, requiring three differentials to boilerplate an output for the time.
CARROUSEL TOURBILLON
The genius of Abraham-Louis Breguet earned him a great many fans, one of them a Danish watchmaker called Bahne Bonniksen. If the name doesn't ring a bell, it'southward probably because his invention is a fairly obscure one.
In wanting to create a more robust alternative to the tourbillon, Bonniksen invented the carrousel in 1892, which is basically a tourbillon with a slightly unlike construction. Different a tourbillon, a carrousel doesn't accept a muzzle and instead has the escapement and balance mounted on a revolving platform. It also uses ii rather than one source of power to enable its rotation.
Blancpain is possibly the simply large actor associated with carrousels in wristwatches, and its examples easily rival (and in some cases surpass) many of its tourbillon peers in terms of artistry and construction. The Blancpain Tourbillon Carrousel in particular is a wonderful style to see both in action at the aforementioned time.
RECORD-BREAKING TOURBILLONS
At that place's nothing like chirapsia everyone else at a really specific game to harvest some cachet. When it comes to really skinny tourbillons, Bulgari hasn't taken any chances. Concluding twelvemonth'south Octo Finissimo Tourbillon Chronograph Skeleton Automatic is the thinnest watch with that combination of features (7.4mm thick), while the Octo Finissimo Tourbillon Automated breaks the records for thinnest automatic watch, thinnest automated tourbillon, and thinnest tourbillon all at once with an overall top of iii.95mm.
For pure spectacle we have Franck Muller with records for the fastest always tourbillon, also every bit the largest. The Thunderbolt Tourbillon, which debuted in 2012, completes one rotation in only five seconds where the standard is 60. A year before that, Muller released the Giga Tourbillon, which had a tourbillon cage measuring an astonishing 20mm, about double the size of near tourbillons.
Equally for the smallest tourbillon movement around, that honor goes again to Bulgari with the Calibre BVL150. Measuring simply 22mm past 18mm with a thickness of three.65mm, it debuted in 2022 in the Bulgari Serpenti Seduttori.
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