Tourbillons, Defying Gravity

Abraham Louis Breguet developed the Tourbillion 200 years ago in the pursuit of improving the accuracy of a timepiece. Overcoming the positional errors found in a mechanical watch as it was being worn. At the time the Tourbillon was part of a pocket watch, wristwatches had not yet evolved, the reasoning was sound but less so than it has become today when the timepiece moves in many positions during the daily life of its owner.

There are different points of view as to the relevance of the mechanism today, whether the additional cost is justified, whether there is really a need, is the Tourbillon a parasite mechanism, or because the wristwatch moves so much on the wrist, is a watch already balancing up for positional error?

Every argument or point of view is irrelevant today when a smartwatch can perform the same function of providing the time effectively for a fraction of the price, except for some basic realities. Smartwatches can’t compare with mechanical timekeepers, mechanical watchmaking is about art, design, craftsmanship, ingenuity and longevity, it is about the people, their skill and their time that is spent in watchmaking.

Tourbillons, one of the most animated of mechanical complications, like ideas, will always defy gravity.

Click on any image below to visit the deconstruction of each watch.