Tourbillon - Fact & Fiction

Introduction: Who Invented the Tourbillon, Why, When & Where ?

The Tourbillon is a device used in watches & clocks to counteract the effects of gravity on the accuracy of watches. The tourbillon was invented in 1795 by Abraham Louis Breuget, the great French watch engineer and designer.

All watch movements are affected to a greater or lesser extent by gravity. The least effect is in solid state movements, such as electronic digital watches, and the greatest effect is in mechanical movements, such as wind up or automatic movements. Breuget invented the tourbillon to ensure greater accuracy in mechanical watch movements by counteracting gravity.

Tourbillons counteract gravity by rotating the balance wheel of a watch or clock through 360 degrees.

In Breuget's day all watches and clocks, except sundials, were mechanical. With very few exceptions (there were a few wrist watches but these were very rare) watches were pocket watches which stayed in one position most of the time. Imagine a pocket watch kept tucked upright in a man's vest pocket or a lady's handbag, the only time it changes position is when it's taken out by the owner to check the time.

The effect of gravity on a watch or clock kept in one position all the time, like a pocket watch, is particularly noticeable on the escapement, especially the balance which rocks back and forth. This can lead to inaccuracies. Breuget's solution was the tourbillon.

Today, tourbillon movements are mostly found in wrist watches, which is pure vanity because most people keep their hands in near constant motion thereby providing the changes in position required to offset the effects of gravity on the watch movement.

In a tourbillon movement, usually just the balance wheel and escapement is rotated. Typically the tourbillon is incorporated as a design feature of the watch or clock, mostly at the 6 O'Clock position where this delightful piece of minature engineering can be seen pursuing its never ending race around and around. Occasionally, the entire movement is rotated, as in the mid-19th Century US made "poor man's tourbillon" a pocket watch in which the entire movement rotated through 360 degrees within its case.

II. Who Makes Tourbillons ?

Historically and also today tourbillon movements are among the most expensive and exclusive watch movements available. They are typically associated with the most expensive offerings of the most expensive and exclusive watch manufacturers.

However, there has been a quiet revolution in the manufacture of tourbillons. China has entered the market and a number of Chinese watch manufacturers are manufacturing tourbillons at affordable prices. Some of these are offered on e-bay, some are offered as bona fide Chinese tourbillons; others are mutton dressed up as lamb and sold as German or Swiss Made, or even occasionally as knock offs of famous brands. Buyer beware !

Chinese made tourbillons can often be identified because of their use of a solid rhodium plated or polished steel metal bird shaped frame for the tourbillon. If you see such a shape in a watch being sold as a famous name brand, beware it almost certainly is not original ! Well so I thought until today (5 July 2007) today I saw a diamond enhanced white gold wrist watch by a very well known swiss brand founded in the early 18th Century and guess what ? It uses at the 12 o'clock position what looks to my eye like a PTS Resources Chinese made tourbillon. If so the venerable Swiss brand's profit margin must be phenomenal. Forgive me for not mentioning the brand's name.

Watch out also for fake tourbillons, these are not tourbillons at all but watches with an exposed balance wheel mounted under a tourbillon style cross bar and sometimes hidden beneath a cage which rotates 360 degrees while the balance wheel beneath it remains in the same position as it rocks back and forth. Some unscrupulious or ignorant sellers sell these as tourbillons, they are not. Buyer beware !

III. Concluding comments and price guide

Today if someone wants a super accurate watch s/he will buy a 99 cent electronic digital watch. It's likely to be ugly but it will tell you the time.

We don't buy mechanical watches because they are accurate. We buy them for all sorts of reasons, maybe as a status symbol, maybe because we like the mechanism and the intricacy of engineering.

Apparently 75% of Swiss Tourbillons are made by one manufacturer while some three or four Chinese manufacturers, PTS Resources, Beijing Watch Co, SeaGull and Innovate dominate the Chinese made tourbillon market. The finest Swiss made tourbillons are streets ahead of Chinese made tourbillons but don't knock the Chinese product, some of them are well made and unlike their Swiss cousins, Chinese tourbillons are affordable, sometimes just 1% or less of the price of a Swiss tourbillon.

Here's a little history of Chinese made tourbillons which I've learnt from Chinese tourbillon manufacturers and by rummaging around in Hong Kong's flea markets: The first Chinese made tourbillons were apparently mantle clocks made in the 1950s. They are glass cased clocks, vaguely reminiscent of Jaeger LeCoultre's Atmos clocks, with a brass framed skeleton jewelled movement, the tourbillon frame was large and made of aluminum.

Beijing Watch Co. and Mr Kiu Tai Yu of Hong Kong's World Wide House both claim the distinction of being the first to make tourbillons in China. Indeed Mr Kiu claims to be the first in Asia.

I know Mr Kiu and for watch enthusiasts visiting Hong Kong, I thoroughly recommend a visit to his little store on the 3rd floor of World Wide House. His tourbillons have won praise from Swiss master craftsmen and prizes at the Basel Fair, the premier international watch fair. Mr Kiu's tourbillons are said to be in the same category as the top Swiss made pieces.

Beijing Watch Co, at this year's Hong Kong watch & Clock Fair (2006) showed a piece the like of which I've never seen before and the purpose of which I cannot fathom, unless it be conspicuous consumption, a double tourbillon, two tourbillons mounted side by side, one at 6 O'Clock and the other at 9 O'Clock. Their tourbillons are finely chased and engraved by hand, often in rose gold. They feature a tourbillon frame in rose gold shaped like a bird with curved wings.

I understand that some of the master craftsmen for at least some Chinese tourbillon manufacturers come from Russia, I don't know whether or not this is true but it opens up some intriguing thoughts.

I have seen some beautifully engineered Chinese made tourbillons using the classic Breuget style frame or cage, these seemed to be finely made and elegant. Many of the components used in Chines made tourbillons come from Switzerland. At least two German companies are selling Chinese made tourbillons under their brand names and I for one will not be surprised if European tourbillon manufacturers do not soon outsource part or all of their ebauche assembly to China.

Personally I love the complexity and engineering genius in a fine mechanical watch. I can't afford a top of the line Swiss tourbillon and even if I could, I would not buy one. But at a few hundred US dollars, a sterling silver cased, saphire crystal lensed Chinese made tourbillon is affordable to many and if you like mechanical wrist watches, I thoroughly reccommend them !

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