====== Tourbillon ======
{{wst>image_cl|Patek Philippe|Tourbillonbrücke|Tourbillon bridge with tourbillon of the form movement 5101P "10 Jours Tourbillon" by [[Patek Philippe]]|280px}}

{{wst>image_cr|IWC|Portugieser Tourbillon Mystère wg|[[IWC Portugieser Tourbillon Mystère]]|220px}}

  *See Also [[Tourbillon (boutique)]] and [[Tourbillon (magazine)]]

**Tourbillon** (French for //whirlwind//)

===== History =====
In [[1795]], ingenious inventor [[Breguet, Abraham-Louis|Abraham-Louis Breguet]] had the idea (patented on June 26, [[1801]]) to neutralize a cause of inaccuracy, namely the influence of gravity on the centre of gravity of the [[balance]], through a special device. Here [[escape wheel]], [[lever]] and [[balance wheel]] are placed on a small plate in a so-called bogey, a cage sitting on the shaft of the [[seconds wheel]]. As the seconds wheel turns, now also the bogie itself turns once per minute (hence also **one-minute tourbillon**), so any position or centre of gravity errors are compensated.

Due to the high accuracy now also reached by usual mechanisms the tourbillon is now just a highly exclusive luxury addition. However, he is regarded as the summit feature of exceptionally valuable watches. Development of this mechanism took many years, and after two experimental models were created (the first of which was given to the son of [[Arnold, John|John Arnold]] in [[1809]]), a commercial model was created in [[1805]]. This watch was shown at the National Exhibition of Industrial Products in October [[1806]]. 35 examples were built and sold before Breguet's death in [[1823]].

In the 1920s, [[Helwig, Alfred|Alfred Helwig]], specialist subject teacher at the [[German Watchmaker School Glashütte]], invented the [[Flying tourbillon]], which in contrast to the simple tourbillon is suspended only one-sided.

A [[double axis tourbillon]] is one which rotates in two directions at once. Invented and patented by Anthony Randall in [[1977]], it was first constructed the following year by Richard Good. The first watch to include a double-axis tourbillon was created by [[Thomas Prescher]] in [[2003]], who also created the first flying double axis tourbillon the following year. Also in [[2003]], [[Greubel Forsey]] introduced their "Double Tourbillon" which inclined a tourbillon inside a rotating cage. They followed up in [[2003]] with a "Quadruple Tourbillon à Différentiel", two double tourbillons connected together. Other well-known double tourbillons in this era were created by [[Franck Muller]] and [[Jaeger-LeCoultre]] with their [[2004]] [[Gyrotourbillon]] and later [[Spherotourbillon]] models.

One issue with tourbillon movements is the difficulty in implementing a [[hacking]] or "stop seconds" feature. Because the escapement is in constant motion, it is difficult to position a lever to stop it. It was not until [[2008]] that [[A. Lange & Söhne]] implemented a stop seconds feature on a tourbillon, and [[2014]] when the same company added a zeroing feature.

===== History of the Tourbillon Wristwatch =====
As early as [[1876]], [[Guinand, Ernest|Ernest Guinand]] of [[Le Locle]] created a 14 ligne (31.9 mm) tourbillon movement. He would build two more compact tourbillon movements in later years. [[Girard-Perregaux]] created a three-bridge tourbillon movement with a [[detent escapement]] in [[1890]]. Although wrist watches did not exist at that time, this 30 mm diameter movement could be considered the first movement small enough for use on the wrist.

The first successful tourbillon wristwatch was created by [[Pellaton, James|Dr. James Pellaton]], director of the watchmaking school in [[Le Locle]]. His prototype was created in [[1927]] and was tested by the Swiss Horological Research Laboratory in [[Neuchâtel]]. It measured 10.5 ligne in diameter, and Pellaton confidently predicted that no smaller tourbillon movement was possible. Coverage in [[1958]] claimed it was the most expensive watch in the world due to the complexity of its creation, at over $7,500. In [[1945]], Pellaton's apprentice [[Charrue, Robert|Robert Charrue]], created a tiny 8.75 ligne movement, which remains among the smallest ever.

In [[1930]], [[Belin, Edouard|Edouard Belin]] of the [[Besançon Watchmaking School]] created a compact tonneau tourbillon movement on a [[Lip]] [[ebauche]]. Lip would later create wristwatch prototypes using their [[T18]] shaped movement, including a fully-cased tourbillon wristwatch prototype in [[1948]]. But Lip did not produce a commercial watch using their movement.

Omega is commonly recognized for the tourbillon movement they created for [[chronometer]] competition in [[1947]]. Omega Cal. 30l set a new record for performance at the Geneva Observatory in [[1950]] and was even cased as a wristwatch at that time. But there was no market for such a watch so the project remained a curiosity, with an under-developed competition movement.

[[Patek Philippe]] was actively developing a tourbillon pocket watch in the 1980s, with a skeleton model shown in [[1981]]. A one-off "[[grande complication]]" pocket watch from [[Dominique Loiseau]], with a [[detent escapement]] and tourbillon, was shown in [[1982]]. It incorporated a [[grande sonnerie]] and [[perpetual calendar]] with [[moon phase]] and used over 600 components. A similar detent-escapement tourbillon pocket watch with three golden bridges from [[Girard-Perregaux]] was exhibited at the Basel Fair in [[1983]], reminiscent of their movement of nearly a century earlier. This watch was stolen in [[1990]] while being mailed to a buyer.

[[Audemars Piguet]] was the first to create a tourbillon wristwatch for the market, however. Launched at the Basel Fair in [[1986]], the Audemars Piguet Tourbillon featured automatic winding and was paired with an unusual rounded rectangular case. The [[open heart]] aperture at the 11 00 corner of the case shows the tourbillon rotating, with guilloche rays emanating from it. This was the smallest tourbillon ever created as well, and represented the rebirth of mechanical watchmaking.

[[Franck Muller]] presented a [[jumping hour]] tourbillon watch with a [[regulator]] dial in [[1986]]. It was a one-off creation, but he would return with a [[minute repeater]] tourbillon in [[1987]] and would add a [[perpetual calendar]] in [[1989]]. He returned to Basel in [[1991]] with a split-seconds chronograph tourbillon, and added a perpetual calendar to that watch in [[1992]]. This rapid development was the basis for his epithet, "Master of Complications."

[[Gérald Genta]] was next to produce a tourbillon wristwatch, in [[1989]], celebrating the 20th anniversary of the brand with a [[minute repeater]]. Consisting of 628 components, it was developed in [[Le Brassus]], perhaps by [[Frédéric Piguet]]. [[Blancpain]] supplied a similar tourbillon minute repeater to [[Asprey's]] of London in [[1990]]. Blancpain would offer their own tourbillon wristwatch using the Frédéric Piguet movement in [[1991]].

[[Daniel Roth]] was famous for his tourbillon wristwatches, with his [[1991]] Tourbillon Chronometer being the first of a series of such watches and the first in modern times to be awarded a [[chronometer]] certificate.

The next great tourbillon wristwatch came in [[1992]] from [[IWC]]. [[IWC Il Destriero Scafusia|Il Destriero Scafusia]] was a [[grand complication]] with a tourbillon, perpetual calendar, split-seconds chronograph, and minute repeater. That same year saw a new automatic tourbillon watch from [[Audemars Piguet]] which was more conventional than their groundbreaking first model 6 years earlier. The resurgent [[Breguet]] brand created a skeleton tourbillon in [[1993]], reuniting the complication with the brand named for its creation. Finally there was [[Jaeger-LeCoultre]] which fitted a tiny tourbillon into the [[Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso|Reverso]] case in 1993.

Another important development at that time was [[Kiu Tai Yu]]'s No. 4, a tourbillon with minute repeater and perpetual calendar. It was the first tourbillon watch developed in Asia, and helped earn the watchmaker a place in the [[AHCI]].

With every brand seeing a tourbillon as their entry into [[haute horology]], many more brands jumped into the field. In [[2005]], so many tourbillons were shown at the major watch shows that the industry declared it the "Year of the Tourbillon", though the complication had been appearing every year for two decades.

===== Tourbillon vs. Carousel =====
  *See also [[Carousel]]

A similar mechanism is the [[carousel]] which uses a gear to drive the rotating balance and escapement, typically attached to the [[fourth wheel]]. In contrast, a true tourbillon rotates on its own on its bogey. Because they appear and function similarly, carousels are often called "tourbillons" by unsophisticated commentators.

===== Literature =====
  *[[Taschenuhren. Von der Halsuhr zum Tourbillon]]; Author [[Reinhard Meis]]; ISBN 3766704842
  *To-uhr-billon, über meine Passion; Author Steffen Pahlow; ISBN 3-00-007198-9


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