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Old 27 July 2018, 10:48 PM   #1
Atlantic
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Has the Tourbillon has its day?

With the advent of new materials and technical advances and in terms of accuracy (aesthetics aside), it would appear that it has. Here is a good read on the subject. What do you think?
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Old 27 July 2018, 11:08 PM   #2
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its cool but it isnt for me at all. i appreciate the complexity and beauty of the design. i just dont ever consider myself one to shell out excess cash for it.
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Old 27 July 2018, 11:54 PM   #3
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its cool but it isnt for me at all. i appreciate the complexity and beauty of the design. i just dont ever consider myself one to shell out excess cash for it.
I’m in the same boat. While I appreciate the technical artistry and the aesthetic beauty of a high end tourbillon, for me accuracy and durability are paramount. But what I find most interesting about this article is the allegation that the tourbilliin, which was developed in the pursuit of accuracy, may no longer be relevant in that respect.
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Old 28 July 2018, 01:16 AM   #4
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I don't see the link.

But I think the tourbillon was never a useful feature on a wristwatch. The objective of it is to reduce the effects of gravity by rotating the escapement, and moving your arm has always done a pretty good job of that.

I think they look really cool though.
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Old 28 July 2018, 01:33 AM   #5
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Cost and complexity to service does not appeal to me as well as the common presentation of a hole in the dial.

No thank you.


Ps Is there supposed to be a link in your post? It’s not there.
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Old 28 July 2018, 08:28 PM   #6
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Here is the link that I neglected to post above:

https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/do...n-a-wristwatch
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Old 29 July 2018, 01:28 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Atlantic View Post
With the advent of new materials and technical advances and in terms of accuracy (aesthetics aside), it would appear that it has. Here is a good read on the subject. What do you think?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Etschell View Post
its cool but it isnt for me at all. i appreciate the complexity and beauty of the design. i just dont ever consider myself one to shell out excess cash for it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Atlantic View Post
I’m in the same boat. While I appreciate the technical artistry and the aesthetic beauty of a high end tourbillon, for me accuracy and durability are paramount. But what I find most interesting about this article is the allegation that the tourbilliin, which was developed in the pursuit of accuracy, may no longer be relevant in that respect.
Cannot see one single reason why anyone would want a Tourbillion only perhaps its very expensive and expensive today with many means its better.The Tourbillon IMHO serves no real purpose in a wrist watch at all,only the fact the watchmakers can make them.And today you would be quite surprised how many watch Hi end brands Tourbillons and cages are made china,and they make them very very well too to equal the Swiss.I sometimes wonder why there so much admiration for the tourbillon,perhaps the unquestioned and deserved prestige of Breguet the inventor many many years ago.But the Tourbillon works best in one position and in theory the Tourbillon is always modifying the slight timing errors in the vertical position.The Tourbillon does not correct position variations, it only prevents them being detected in the usual testing conditions. But when placed on say a vibrograph, the Tourbillon reveals its weaknesses immediately.The Tourbillon does not correct anything,in wrist movements, it only prevents the detection of any beat errors that still exists in natural gravity with wrist movement.

The Tourbillon is in fact an additional mechanism that consumes energy without producing anything except misinformation.The energy it consumes is taken from the reserve destined to the regulator. As a result, the balance wheel with less energy will have reduced advantages.Now I agree totally the skill needed to make the cage plus the Tourbillon itself etc is a great horological skill.But in reality any Tourbillon watch is no more accurate that several other non Tourbillon watches that cost very very very much less.And even today's modern watches,with or without Tourbillons are not so accurate as one produced by John Harrison almost 300 years ago.

Gravity is one of the main causes of rate variations in watches,by creating the Tourbillon,when Breguet thought he was eliminating its effects,It looks like it was an big error on his part,he only masked them like Tourbillons do.Now if someone could come up and counteract the effect on gravity on a wrist watch totally.Now that would be a big break through but until then Tourbillons,IMHO are just good to look at,and they are very very expensive to own,and they make them because they can.But again looking at the other side of the coin,in Breguets day a hundred plus years ago when he invented the Tourbillon and the tools he had then.And now today with modern machines and computers puts a different perspective on the making side of Tourbillons today.
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Old 29 July 2018, 04:21 AM   #8
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Peter, thank you for your astute and informative reply.

Roger Smith pretty much sums it up.

"I think George (Daniels) would have happily admitted that a tourbillon has no practical purpose within modern horology, and I would agree. The tourbillon was invented to cope with the vagaries of a split bimetallic balance, which due to its nature (two flexible arms) is impossible to poise, due to the varying temperatures, centrifugal forces and repeated shocks that a watch will receive. The tourbillon moderated these issues."

"Today, the industry all use mono metallic balances which do not move once poised in the factory or workshop, and so for practical purposes relegates the tourbillon to the history books....”
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Old 29 July 2018, 07:26 AM   #9
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I don't think many would argue they serve a practical purpose for timekeeping these days, its about the artistry, complexity and rarefaction of owning one.

You will also notice many high end tourbillons are not visible from the dial side, rather a hidden gem for just the wearer to passively enjoy.
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Old 29 July 2018, 05:39 PM   #10
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One could argue if the tourbillon has had it's day so has the mechanical wristwatch. But that's not the point.
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Old 29 July 2018, 10:43 PM   #11
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One could argue if the tourbillon has had it's day so has the mechanical wristwatch. But that's not the point.
Good point!
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Old 31 July 2018, 12:26 PM   #12
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https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/do...n-a-wristwatch
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Old 31 July 2018, 01:58 PM   #13
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If we're going to talk about usefulness and purpose, we may as well throw away all mech watches. They don't achieve what they were designed to with regards to accuracy any longer but when did needs come back into watchmaking?


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Old 31 July 2018, 10:34 PM   #14
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If we're going to talk about usefulness and purpose, we may as well throw away all mech watches. They don't achieve what they were designed to with regards to accuracy any longer but when did needs come back into watchmaking?

Three of my Rolexs, two Subs and an Explorer II, have now been regulated by my AD to sub +1 sec/day. This more than meets my needs in terms of accuracy.
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Old 1 August 2018, 04:19 AM   #15
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Interesting thread. Thanks.
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Old 1 August 2018, 06:02 AM   #16
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It's a fun complication to look at, other than that, rather useless and overly expensive.
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Rolex uses rare elves to polish the platinum. They have a union deal and make like $90 per hour and get time and half on weekends.
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Old 1 August 2018, 06:11 AM   #17
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It's a fun complication to look at, other than that, rather useless and overly expensive.
And therein lies its purpose...

Frivolous and knowingly expensive
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Old 1 August 2018, 06:21 AM   #18
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And therein lies its purpose...

Frivolous and knowingly expensive
Having handled and tried a few on I must say I was underwhelmed. It is just a gimmick for the ultra rich.

As a watchmaker I can appreciate the fine details of the movement and definitely enjoy looking at them, but I do not have a desire to own one.

Funny, I used to have a big list of all kinds of high end watches that I'd wish to own one day.
Now having seen and briefly worn some of the world's most precious watches (RM, AP, Lange, PP, anything) I can only say my list is now pretty much empty.

I definitely still enjoy getting my hands on this stuff, but that is enough. Saves me a lot of money



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Rolex uses rare elves to polish the platinum. They have a union deal and make like $90 per hour and get time and half on weekends.
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Old 1 August 2018, 07:23 AM   #19
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Interesting thread. Thanks.
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