Tourbillons' Ever Increasing Popularity

At present day tourbillon watches are as popular as never before. Watch experts and enthusiasts have long noticed the spread of 'tourbi-madness' or 'touri-mania'. Still, a tourbillon is a rare and valuable feature of mechanical watches. If to translate the word 'tourbillon' from French, it means 'whirlwind' or 'vortex'.

The tourbillon improves a watch's accuracy by eliminating slight time errors that appear as the result of a watch balance oscillating at different speeds in different positions. A tourbillon represents a really small and delicate metal cage. The cylindrical cage consists of two metal rims fixed to each other with help of pillars. The balance wheel and the balance spring, as well as the escapement are set inside the cage.

The cage is continuously rotating, so the balance does not remain in an error-causing position for a long time and an error in one position is 'canceled' by an error in another. The tourbillon cage is driven by the gear train. It usually rotates once per minute.

Besides the positive effect on the timepiece's accuracy, a tourbillon provides a great aesthetic pleasure. That is why a lot of watch brands produce timepieces with a tourbillon visible through a special aperture in the dial. There are also watch models with a transparent face – this way the tiny cage becomes seen moving in circles.

A really essential feature for a tourbillon is its light weight. It is the mainspring that powers the tourbillon, so an additional weight would need extra power drain – a serious disadvantage for the movement functioning. One more characteristic of a tourbillon is its sturdiness. If a tourbillon lacks sturdiness, it will rather create than correct the errors. Tourbillons are also peculiar for their intricate nature – a tourbillon consists of about 100 tiniest parts.

The tourbillon creation requires supreme expertize and professional skills of master watchmakers. The invention of a tourbillon belongs to one of the most prominent names in the history of horology – Abraham-Louis Breguet. The legendary watchmaker patented the tourbillon invention over 200 years ago - back in 1801. A tourbillon was initially used for pocket watches.

Today a tourbillon serves as a status-setter of its producer and wearer. A person with a tourbillon watch on one's wrist immediately captures attention of everyone around. A great deal of watchmaking companies have introduced new models of tourbillon watches during the past few years. A tourbillon takes a lot of time to be produced. No wonder, this technical achievement encased in a small wristwatch is amazingly expensive. The prices for tourbillons range from $ 80,000 dollars and up to a few times that much.

Still, tourbillon watches are highly-demanded. Their popularity started to grow in 2003. Already in the period of 2004-2005 over 100 new models of tourbillon watches appeared on the market. But the year 2006 beat all the records – the list of watchmaking brands that launched tourbillon watches comprises such well-known brands as Breguet, Cartier, Jacob Co, Harry Winston, Zenith, Girard-Perregaux, Jaeger-LeCoultre and many others.