Tourbillon

The tourbillon is a mechanism that units the regulating organ (balance and hairspring) and the distribution organ (escape-wheel, pallet-lever and roller pin) within a mobile structure called a ‘cage’ (and sometimes a ‘carriage’), which spins on its axis, generally at a rate of one full rotation per minute. This construction serves to compensate for – and eliminate – the various forces in action in the operation of an oscillator and an escapement, starting with gravity.

The invention of the tourbillon is closely bound up with the state of the watchmaking art at the time, as well as the prevailing customs. At the dawn of the 19th century, pocket watches involved several drawbacks. These were firstly of a mechanical nature: components were hand-crafted and sometimes hard to poise correctly, thus generating considerable friction; while lubricants tended to congeal and lead to variations in rate. In practical terms, the fact that such watches were generally housed in a dedicated waistcoat or jacket pocket meant they were mostly in a vertical position. The movement as a whole – and particularly the escapement-sprung balance group of components – thereby suffered from the effects of gravity and its operation was disturbed.

The tourbillon represents a solution that is both ingenious and complex. In a traditional mechanical movement, the regulating organ and escapement are fitted onto the mainplate one after the other by means of various bridges. The wheels and pinions thus oscillate around their axis, while maintaining the same position so long as the watch remains motionless. The tourbillon regulating system uses the same conventional elements, but unites them within a rotating carriage suspended between two pivoting points. This carriage acts like a fourth (seconds) wheel, driven by the third wheel, causing the sprung balance to successively adopt all vertical positions, even if the watch itself does not move. This results in automatic compensation for variations in rate, since the tourbillon creates a single mean error for all positions. Moreover, the distribution of the lubricant has also been improved and become smoother and more homogenous. These advantages outweigh the loss of amplitude due to increased frictional forces.

While the tourbillon experienced few developments over a two-century period, it has now become a hotbed of innovations: flying, inclined, multi-axis, orbital and multiple tourbillons have joined the simple tourbillon. All these versions are addressed in separate descriptions.

Finally, the tourbillon is not a function relating to timekeeping, but rather to construction. Crafting it – a highly delicate task calling for great expertise – as well as its spectacular operation make it a full-fledged horological complication that is often staged in a particularly dramatic manner.

The tourbillon stems from the genius of Abraham-Louis Breguet. Invented in around 1795, it was patented in 1801 and commercialized as of 1805. The first example equipped a chronometer created by great English watchmaker and friend of Breguet, John Arnold. Breguet latter subsequently gifted it to his apprentice John Roger Arnold, in tribute to the latter’s father who passed away in 1799. Only 35 tourbillons were produced and sold between 1805 and 1823, the year of the great maestro’s death.
Few achieved mastery of such a mechanism. Among them were Urban Jürgensen (1776-1830) of Denmark or Swiss watchmakers Jacques-Frédéric Houriet (1743-1830) and Albert Pellaton (1832-1914). In 1867, Girard-Perregaux presented the Tourbillon with Three Gold Bridges at the Paris World’s Fair. This original construction that is still featured in the brand catalog won a Gold Medal at the event. Built by Ernest Guinand in 1865 and patented in 1884, this model was produced until 1905 in a run of just 20, and subsequently reissued in a 20-piece special edition in 1981.

Already very complex to produce and rarely used, the tourbillon did not attract much significant fundamental research until the late 20th century. In 1927, however, Jämes-César Pellaton, associate director of the Le Locle Watchmaking School, and the son of Albert Pellaton whose expertise he had clearly inherited, built the world’s smallest tourbillon (10 ½"' or 23.7mm). This record was beaten in 1945 by his own student Fritz Robert-Charrue, who made the smallest one-minute tourbillon (8¾"' or 19,74 mm). This miniaturization naturally led to the first tourbillon wristwatch, rotating in seven minutes and three seconds, presented by Omega in 1947. This model was however intended exclusively for precision competitions. Patek Philippe thus took the opportunity of launching its general-public version the following year. It is also worth mentioning that the Lip brand is created with a 1930 prototype of a tourbillon wristwatch built on a Lip movement blank, created by Edouard Belin of the Besançon Watchmaking School.

It was not until 1981 that a further significant breakthrough occurred: that was the year that Englishman Derek Pratt, who specialized in the restoration of historical clocks and complicated watches, built a constant-force tourbillon watch for Urban Jürgensen. The first of its kind, this model featured a remontoire integrated within the cage (see: Constant-force escapement). In 1986, Maurice Grimm and André Beyner developed the first self-winding wristwatch equipped with a tourbillon, for Audemars Piguet. The model caused a sensation due to the thinness of its case (2.5mm) and above all the positioning of its tourbillon, appearing at 11 o’clock on the dial.

This accomplishment put the tourbillon firmly back in the spotlight. From then on, Breguet’s invention was to prove an enduring source of fascination for connoisseurs. On some models, it appeared as a solo star, such as the Tourbillon 8 jours by Blancpain (1991), on Omega’s Central Tourbillon 1994), the Automatic Tourbillon with Three Gold bridges and platinum micro-rotor by Girard-Perregaux (1999), and the Vacheron Constantin Patrimony Traditionnelle 14-day Tourbillon equipped with four barrels stacked in pairs. On others, it was associated with other complications, as in the Grande sonnerie and Westminister chime with minute repeater, tourbillon, perpetual calendar, dual-time display and power-reserve indicator, by Gérald Genta (1994); or the Tour de l’Île by Vacheron Constantin featuring a minute repeater and striking mechanism torque indication, tourbillon, perpetual calendar, phases and age of the moon, perpetual equation of time, sunrise and sunset times, sky chart in a given location, dual-time and power-reserve displays (2005)