Elite Traveler March-April 2016

INSPIRE TOURBILLONS

elite traveler MAR/APR 2016 82

Jacob & Co Astronomia Aventurine watch features a rotating diamond moon and Earth along with the tourbillon. $540,000

Additionally, some watch pundits argue that the tourbillon is not even a watchmaking complication, because it doesn’t offer an added function. While the counter argument runs that the legendary invention deserves to be called a complication because it offers the added benefit of improved precision. It is the subject of countless hours of debate. Complication or not, the tourbillon has stirred hearts and minds for generations. Because of their complexity, tourbillon watches are often created in limited editions or even as one-offs, and are typically expensive, retailing from tens of thousands of dollars up to over $500,000, depending on complexity and adornment. The quest for the biggest, smallest, thinnest and best has spurred many ingenious developments. The evolution is mind blowing, proving that better chronometry will always be the goal, even in a world where wristwatches could be replaced by cell phones.

it to godlike status in the watchmaking world. Difficult to build, the idea and execution of the rare tourbillon escapement remained pretty much unchanged for 200 years. Whereas in the past watch brands raced to create the most complicated watch (those filled with thousands of pieces and offering dozens of complications), today’s brands, though still competing for winning complications, have become more specialized. This approach allows them to focus on a single aspect of watchmaking, such as the tourbillon, and work tirelessly to perfect it in terms of both technology and design. It was just with the dawn of the new millennium that this race took off and we began seeing bold new evolutions in the tourbillon escapement. In 2004, Jaeger-LeCoultre was among the first to unveil a multidimensional tourbillon escapement: the Gyrotourbillon. A transparent sapphire globe rose from the typically flat watch crystal and ensconced a multi-axis rotating tourbillon escapement that not only continually moved, but also rotated around itself. At around the same time, independent watchmaker Thomas Prescher developed a triple-axis tourbillon in a wristwatch, followed quickly by the then new Greubel Forsey

Jacob & Co turned to the skies in the making of its Astronomia Tourbillon, which features a tourbillon escapement that orbits the dial every 20 minutes and moving satellite orbs, representing the Earth and the moon. In short, the advances in recent years have been staggering. We have seen records set by brands unveiling the tourbillon with the largest aperture for viewing, the lightest weight tourbillon for optimal spin and accuracy, the fastest rotating tourbillon (30 seconds instead of a minute), the thinnest tourbillon, raised tourbillons and even tourbillon escapements placed seemingly outside the watch movement. But as luxury watchmaking brands race forward with new developments, the lines have become blurred. It has become more difficult to track which watch is really a world record setter. Questions abound. Is the tourbillon hand-wound or automatic? Are we talking about the thinnest tourbillon when cased, or when alone as a movement?

brand, which introduced a Double Tourbillon 30º that had two tourbillons rotating at different inclines and speeds. Before long the world witnessed triple and quadruple tourbillon escapements in a single watch, and tourbillon escapements that could rotate around the entire dial, as in Piaget’s Tourbillon Relatif, which is a thing of beauty both technically and visually. Certain brands even turned to new arenas to challenge their master watchmakers. Hublot, for instance, created the Hublot LaFerrari watch, shaped to emulate the Ferrari engine, with a tourbillon escapement that has been pulled out of its typical space within the movement and is displayed vertically on the side of the watch, where it can be fully appreciated.

Hublot LaFerrari 50 Days Power Reserve Tourbillon with 637 movement parts and suspended tourbillon cage visible via case side. $345,000

FranckMuller 's Vanguard 45 Gravity Tourbillon watch houses an escapement that holds the record for being the world's largest. $115,000