Menu
| A great source for watches and accessories for watch collectors. |
History of the Tourbillon
Customer Service 401-919-4707
| Something for all levels of collectors |
Menu
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| BRIEF HISTORY OF THE TOURBILLON On the 7th of Messidor in the Ninth Year of the French Republic calendar, Abraham-Louis Breguet, a French citizen of Swiss descent, was granted a patent for an amazing invention called a "tourbillon regulator". This was the most precise, and the most complex watch mechanism ever developed. The Tourbillon, which means (whirlwind), was designed to prohibit timekeeping errors due to the universal forces of gravity. In preparing his application for a patent back in 1801, Breguet wrote: “With the aid of this invention, I have been able to compensate for the anomalies caused by shifts in the centre of gravity of the escapement and obtain even friction on all pivots and bearings”… “I have also eliminated many other factors that people before me have tried to overcome without particular success". The master watchmaker worked on his brainchild for five years, building it with a precision that is difficult to match today with our sophisticated machinery. Breguet placed the entire moving mechanism in a rotating cage that would complete one revolution per minute in the opposite direction. Thus, errors due to gravity could be counteracted and the watch would move with a more precise and even tempo. A-L Breguet died in 1823, he sold only 35 of his tourbillon watches due to the nature of the mechanism. The watches contained dozens of additional miniature parts that required a multitude of hours to manufacture, and more still to assemble. All of this contributed to the premium price for these precious timepieces. A majority of tourbillons therefore ended up in the hands, or pockets of the elite and royal families of the day. The tourbillon was originally designed for pocket watches because they remained in a single upright position when worn, and again at night on the bedside table which is the reason for the serious effect gravity played on them. The tourbillon’s scarcity has intrigued watch collectors more in the past 5 years than ever before. Some will pay fifty or one hundred thousand dollars for such a unique & complicated watch. |
