| The watch lovers heaven, the TOURBILLON. The watchmaking artisans at BLANCPAIN give a short overview of how they make a tourbillon watch. An inside view of the difficulties and complexities of haute horlogerie. The Tourbillon is one of the most complex and difficult to make watch escapements. Technically not a complication itself but is valued for its engineering and design principles. As such it is usually a mark of high quality workmanship and tourbillon watches often fetch high prices in auction houses and at the luxury end of the watch market. Invented in 1795 by Swiss watchmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet, a tourbillon counters the effects of gravity by mounting the escapement and balance wheel in a rotating cage, in order to negate the effect of gravity when the timepiece is moved. This serves to cancel out the movement of the wrist - whatever position the watch is held in, the mechanism will rotate through all angles. Double-axis tourbillion: In 2003, inspired by clockmakers, the young German watchmaker Thomas Prescher developed for the Thomas Prescher Haute Horlogerie the first flying double-axis tourbillon in a pocketwatch and, in 2004, the first flying double-axis tourbillon with constant force in the carriage in a wristwatch. Triple-axis tourbillion: In 2004 Thomas Prescher developed the first triple-axis tourbillon for the Thomas Prescher Haute Horlogerie with constant force in the carriage in a wristwatch. Presented at the Baselworld 2004 in Basel, Switzerland, in ... |
