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Tourbillons hold the watch world in thrall. For the brands they are signifiers of their watchmaking prowess; for customers they are an indication of how much money you have. They are also beautiful to look at. A miniature mechanical whirlwind (the English translation of the French “tourbillon”) delicately hand assembled that speaks to the essence of watchmaking – a combination of practicality and whimsy.
To quickly recap the origin story, the tourbillon was invented by Abraham-Louis Breguet and patented in 1801. A tourbillon places the escapement and balance wheel inside a cage that then rotates, usually completing one rotation every 60 seconds. By constantly changing how these parts are affected by gravity, the isochronism, or consistency of the movement’s accuracy, is improved. It doesn’t negate the effects of gravity – we’d have to live on the Moon to do that – however, it doesn’t allow gravity to affect one part of the spring and timekeeping components disproportionately. In Watchmaking, the Bible for watchmakers written by British horological legend George Daniels, Daniels explains that the “purpose of the invention [of the tourbillon] was to eliminate errors of poise [or weight distribution across the balance wheel] in the balance by revolving the escapement continuously to produce a uniform average rate”.
Probably the most wonderful thing about tourbillons is that they are completely useless in today’s watches. The watch world loves to tilt at windmills to borrow from Don Quixote. It constantly strives for accuracy in watches when everyone knows your mobile phone is going to trump it every time. It builds precise movements that are sensitive to everything from magnets to water. And tourbillons are no exception to this pursuit of the futile.
“Tourbillons have always been a symbol of high horology to the world, but the truth is that any experienced watchmaker will tell you it's a relatively simple function,” says Christy Davis, co-founder of Subdial, a digital platform for buying and selling pre-owned watches that operates like a stock exchange with real-time monitoring of price fluctuations. “I say that with a massive handful of salt as someone with no personal technical experience, but there are far more complex complications, like a perpetual calendar, that aren't as obvious or eye-catching. Ultimately tourbillons are just very beautiful, and for that reason it'll always capture imaginations.”
There is the also its obsolescence. This function (don’t call it a complication, you’ll have the watch nerd police on you in no time) was invented at a time when balance springs were bimetallic. A bimetallic balance comprises two metals where the expansion upon heating of the first metal is mechanically opposed to that of the second metal, which allows for isothermal, or heat based, regulation. The rotation of the tourbillon was a way to combat the vagaries of this type of regulation. Today we have monometallic balances. They do not move once poised in the manufacture and therefore tourbillons are redundant. That doesn’t stop the love affair with them though and maybe it is also part of their appeal. A pair of Louboutin’s aren’t going to help you walk any faster, but that’s not why you buy them.
Breguet may have patented the tourbillon in 1801 but it wasn’t until the early 1930s that it was first placed in a case. Prior to this wristwatch-sized tourbillons were made for time trials or as showcases for a watchmaker’s talents. And it wasn’t a name you would think – Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, or any of the other grandes dames – it was French watchmaking company LiP who found a way to make a tourbillon small enough for a watch case. However, it wasn’t able to find a way to make its design commercially viable, so it never went into series production. Omega also had a go in 1947 with a prototype tourbillon that, rather unusually completed a rotation every seven and a half minutes. The logic there being a faster speed would adversely affect the inertial load, or uniform distribution of weight. It took until 1986 for the first-ever series tourbillon to be made by Audemars Piguet. The Ref. 25643 was also the world’s thinnest tourbillon at 4.8mm. Audemars Piguet held this title for 32 years, until Bulgari’s Octo Finissimo Tourbillon Automatic knocked it off its perch in 2018 with one at 3.95mm. That record was subsequently beaten in 2024 with Piaget’s Altiplano Ultimate Concept Tourbillon, which slipped in at wafer-thin 2mm.
Despite its historical legacy, Vacheron Constantin didn’t make its first until 1990 making it an earlier adopter. However, the real boom period for this function was the early 2000s. Richard Mille turned heads by making its first watch – the RM001– a tourbillon, it has since become a veteran in this particular field. Greubel Forsey announced its arrival on the scene in 2004 with its Double Tourbillon 30º. The two rotated at different speeds and the inner cage was set at a different angle to the outer one. Greubel Forsey further upped the horological ante in 2009 with its Quadruple Tourbillon à Différentiel, which had four whirring away all connected by a differential device to ensure even distribution of power. Suddenly just making a tourbillon wasn’t enough. They were on multiple axes –Jaeger-LeCoultre and Girard-Perregaux – or there was more than one of them as seen at Roger Dubuis and Jacob & Co.
Then the “fashion” brands got involved. Chanel unveiled its first tourbillon in 2012. It was a flying tourbillon, one mounted to the mainplate from below so the view is unobstructed from above, and Chanel decided to showcase this achievement by concealing it with a diamond-set camelia that rotated as the tourbillon cage moved. Gucci has also entered high watchmaking. In 2021 it put a tourbillon in its retro-sporty 25H collection and has unveiled subsequent models since then, including 2024’s Gucci Interlocking, with a flying tourbillon and jump hour, and a skeletonised version of the 25H. Louis Vuitton and Hermes also have tourbillons to their name such as the former’s Voyager Flying Tourbillon "Poinçon de Genève" Plique-à-jour from 2024 and the latter’s same year Arceau Duc Attelé where the function is centrally mounted. It makes sense for brands that weren’t watchmakers to begin with to leverage the tourbillon in this way especially when they start making it in house. It is a very obvious sign that you know what you are going and that you are taking watches seriously, not just using them as perfume-like brand extensions.
However, this is also happening at a time when independent brands and those from China are offering this function at prices that are accessible to the average person. Chinese brand, Peacock, offers tourbillons for $1,799. Granted, they aren’t as well finished or maybe as good quality as one from Vacheron Constantin but if you just want the bragging rights then it’s a good way to go. Swiss Kickstarter success story CODE41recently unveiled its 100% Swiss made tourbillon that retailed at £9,590. Here costs are saved by having no bricks and mortar and working on a pre-order model so there is no unsold stock. But still it’s a far cry from the £20,950 you’ll pay for a TAG Heuer, one of the many sporty brands that has flirted with this function. All this has the contradictory effect of making the tourbillon seem less special, or at the very least is making customers question whether it is worth the extra zeroes storied Swiss houses add on; something that could be affecting resale.
“Tourbillons still tend to add monetary value but the demand for them is much lower,” says Davis “An example might be a Cartier Tortue Monopoussoir, which comes in both tourbillon and non-tourbillon models. The tourbillon model will list for around 60% more, but finding a buyer for that piece is a lot more difficult, and sellers will likely have to offer more significant discounts to secure a sale.” If we have hit peak tourbillon, where to now? Flood a market, even with something as special as a tourbillon, and it suddenly starts to lose its desirability factor. Davis thinks there is already a move away from this function-based fever.
“There is an interesting macro-trend we’re seeing which is a move from watchmaking-led to design-led collectability,” he explains. “This started with the rise of Cartier and Piaget as design-led brands (with exceptional watchmaking underneath). There's a similar trend going on with independents. The first wave of independents to catch fire were all led by master watchmakers, but increasingly industrial designers are producing amazing pieces at rapid speeds that are exciting because of the wider watch design rather than the movement within. Tourbillons may be a casualty of this trend in the short term, but I suspect they'll always hold a place within collector's hearts.”
