I find tourbillions fascinating, because while they served a specific purpose, they have no use in wristwatch, thanks the constant movement of the movement on the wrist. It is technically useless, and therefore many tend to consider it a compilation that should be left in the past. There is only one problem with considering the tourbillion a bygone technology best left in the past of mechanical watchmaking. The same applies to all mechanical watches in general. The moment Quartz technology reached mainstream, the mechanical movement went the way of the tourbillion; outdated and no longer relevant. However, mechanical watches continue to flourish, because they represent an emotional, almost romantic attitude to watches, where obsolete technology can still exist for the sake of its beauty, and purity of purpose alone, and there is no mechanical complication that exemplifies this more than the tourbillion (with the possible exemption of the minute repeater).
Excellent post! Useless , but charming. Tourbillons manual transmissions, vinyl records. Many of my favorite things are considered to be obsolete by others. That just makes me appreciate them even more.
Great Comment Geoffrey! I could not agree with you more, what drew me in to this amazing industry is the fact that Mechanical Timepieces have been obsolete long ago. But it is our Near Romantic relationship with and appreciation of, History, Engineering, Artisan Craftsmanship and most of all the very special relationship we as Humans have with the concept of time itself. I have always felt that as we Humans defined the concept of time itself and have made it an integral part of our existence, the Mechanical Timepiece is one of the truest forms of Human Expression and resilience. We could have stopped at the Sun Dial but we did not, we could have stopped at Large Clock Towers that told time to a Community but we did not. We chose to enhance and forge on, we made Marine Chronometers that helped explorers Navigate the unknown seas and somehow make it back home after months or even years across the globe. We chose to make Minute Repeaters so Royalty could know the time when the candles were out. We made Dive Watches that can go Further than the Human Body itself. Why? Because there is no Question that can't be answered and no Task that can't be done When humans come together with one goal in the pursuit of Passion and reaching new heights. Even when it comes to making a totally not needed Anti-Gravity machine that fits on your Wrist. But they are so Awesome! Thanks again for watching and the awesome comment!
Great video you can tell by his demeanor that during the video he got really excited about them and sharing that knowledge. As a craftsman myself I get that way about my work. Love seeing it!
I feel more impressed with the men who done this in the early years on paper and by hand than any monumental movements of space travel, really can't think of anything more impressive
how do you fit a rotating / revolving anti gravity tech inside that super compact 45 MM - 40 MM case??? it'd mean making the case much thicker (height of the case)!!!
Great video CQ. Very informative. You mentioned one watch though, The Roger Dubuis Quatuor. I don't think those are 4 tourbillons working in unicine but instead 4 balance wheels. I could be wrong, but that is one of my grail watches. Either way keep up the great work. Thanks
Great Video thanks, however your description of the flying tourbillon is wrong, it is not suspended by the upper cage pivot as you indicate but it is held from the lower fourth pivot to the mainplate of the movement and has no cage thus the name "flying tourbillon"! Also a tourbillon as discribed by its inventor Mr Breguet, is composed of a cage enclosing the escapement (balance, escapement, escape wheel) rotating around a fixed fouth wheel to the mainplate of the movment. Anything that have multiple axis is technicaly not a tourbillon but I guess for marketing purposes it sounds better to use that name.
This is the best video I’ve seen which clearly and concisely describes what a Tourbillion is. Excellent presentation Is a tourbillon considered a complication or merely a function of the movement of the watch? Great job! Thanks.
You explained the reason for offsetting the effects of gravity, but you still failed to explain precisely how the tourbillon is connected to the rest of the gears, how the movement of the tourbillon cage sends the energy into the watch through what pinions and gears. I understand the tourbillon, but your explanation would leave me still wondering if I didn't know how it worked already. What is the purpose of the stationary gear under the cage? What is the pinion on the main balance staff connected to? What gear is turned by the tourbillon?
FP Journe himself said the Tourbillion was made to ensure that the oils were constantly moving within the watch and not for the reason you mentioned...kind of have to trust him on this...
mountainhobo no just the tourbillion as Breguet invented it. He said that it was an insult to Breguet as a master watchmaker that he would purpose the Tourbillion to counter the effects of gravity in only two positions. He said the lubricants in watched were of low quality and that those lubricants tended to collect in certain areas within the movement so by creating a tourbillon the lubricants would constantly be distributed in different areas of the movement
is there a (something like a ballistic armoured hypothetically speaking) tourbillon wrist watch (for men) that can function flawlessly under water in depths greater than 160.0 ft???
Tourbillons are mostly just mechanical art when it comes to wrist watches. I enjoy seeing watches with them as long as they are visible since then they can at least add to the look of the watch. I absolutely don't get hidden tourbillon watches. Those really are useless.
This video has one wrong info and a very important missed info. The wrong info is that RD watch shown in the video does NOT have 4 tourbillons. In fact it has zero tourbillons. There are many watches that have multiple balances but they are not tourbillons. The missed info is of course that Chinese are making the tourbillons for 150 bucks. You can talk about their quality not being on par with Swiss, but it seems to me that it's easier to make them than it was presented in this video.
trdi the Chinese copy. The Chinese also have access to CAD files so the challengers to create a tourbillion are minimized. It seems that you are missing the scope here.
Now the chinese make them for a few hundreds dollars. People DON'T CONFUSE tourbillons from just a basic escapement or balance wheel flicking away. All mechanical watches have those.
