Tourbillons of Twenty16
Extremely difficult and time-consuming to produce, the tourbillon escapement continues to fascinate successive generations of watchmakers, even after 221 years since its invention. Hiren Kumar Bose on the latest interpretations of A-L Breguet’s horological marvel.
TAG HEUER Carrera Heuer-02T
At 4 Hz, and 28,800 vibrations/hour, the main technical challenge was to house a single barrel, the chronograph functions, the automatic winding mechanism and the flying tourbillon within a diameter of 32 mm, whilst ensuring the counters were well spaced to create a modern, balanced look. It houses a lightweight tourbillon hand-crafted by 4 watchmakers, inspired by the Monaco V4’s tourbillon, which has central sections made from titanium and a carbon top section. This tourbillon offers a power reserve in excess of 65 hours. Each watch has undergone a protocol involving a total of 21 days of testing. Each movement is certified by the independent testing body, Contrôle Officiel Suisse des Chronomètres (COSC), which guarantees that the chronometer meets the highest accuracy standards when worn. The movement is housed in the latest generation case. Made from grade 5 titanium, lightweight and more shock-resistant, it uses a different form of construction with 12 modular components. This design opens up a huge range of possibilities, with an infinite combination of materials, colours, treatments and finishes. Limited to 250 numbered pieces, the watch is waterproof to a depth of 100 m.
A. LANGE & SÖHNE’S Datograph Perpetual Tourbillon
The watch pairs three complications with five supplementary functions and stands out with a superbly organised face despite the density of information it displays. The challenge was to achieve the perfect interaction between different highly complex mechanisms and embedding them in a smoothly functioning ensemble. The black solid-silver dial contrasts beautifully against the 41.5-millimetre platinum case as well as the hands and hour markers in rhodiumed gold. It is limited to 100 watches. The Datograph designates a column-wheel chronograph with a precisely jumping minute counter, a flyback function and the typical Lange outsize date. Perpetual, the middle element of the name, refers to an instantaneously jumping perpetual calendar with a moon-phase display. All indications of the perpetual calendar – including the outsize date as well as the day-of-week, month and leap year displays in subsidiary dials – switch instantaneously and thus provide unambiguous readings at all times. In conjunction with the free-sprung balance spring crafted in-house, it assures excellent rate accuracy across the entire 50-hour power reserve. The power-reserve indicator integrated at the end of the tachymeter scale reminds the owner when it is time to rewind the watch. For the first time in a Lange tourbillon with chronograph, the balance beats at a rate of 18,000 instead of the conventional 21,600 semi-oscillations per hour. This corresponds to a frequency of 2.5 hertz. Consequently, stopped times can be displayed with an accuracy of one-fifth of a second. The patented stop-seconds mechanism instantaneously brings the balance wheel inside the tourbillon cage to a standstill when the crown is pulled. This allows the watch to be set with one-second accuracy.
ULYSSE NARDIN Royal Python Skeleton Tourbillon
Silicium technology and an in-house-developed flying tourbillon honour the mechanics of the collection, featuring a silicium balance spring, anchor and escapement wheel. Hand-painted movement bridges dotted with rubies reveals the skill and sensibility of the watchmaker. A limited edition of 18 pieces in rose gold 4N, the 44mm timepiece is a transparent beauty, where the inner workings become the art form. It shares its fluid network of positive and negative space intertwined ever so delicately with its wearer. The seemingly infinite maze of individual movements, parts and bridges are reduced to essential composition and masterfully reinterpreted into a rare piece of work.
HARRY WINSTON Histoire de Tourbillon 7
The 50 mm watch features an opening in unique proportions to expertly showcase the dance of the biaxial tourbillons. The crown is guarded by the iconic Harry Winston logo – three arches that represent the entrance to the House’s legendary Fifth Avenue flagship salon in New York. The case body has a satin finish and lugs that are accented with a diamond bezel. Short and plunging, the lugs are designed so that the large sides of the timepiece rest comfortably on the wrist. Every piece in the Histoire de Tourbillon Collection demands hundreds of hours of work in order to achieve perfection from every angle. The manual finishing of these tiny pieces is incredibly difficult and requires incomparable thoroughness. The bottom plate and bridges of this movement are made of titanium. This material is necessarily strong but conveniently light weight and low maintenance. Notably, it is only 17 mm thick, a feat when considering the height required by each biaxial tourbillon. In fact, like its six predecessors, only 20 of these magnificent timepieces will be released: 10 pieces for the red version and 10 pieces for the anthracite version.
OFFICINE PANERAI Radiomir 1940minute Repeater Carillon Tourbillon GMT – 49mm
With the exclusive tourbillon regulator and the remarkable double minute repeater mechanism chiming either local time or a second-time zone, the new Radiomir 1940 minute repeater carillon tourbillon GMT is technically the most complicated watch ever made by the Panerai manufacture. The chiming is activated by a push-piece at 8 o’clock, and it is carried out by three hammers which strike an equal number of gongs fixed to the movement and the case. The choice of three hammers, instead of the traditional two, enables three different sounds to be combined so that the carillon can play a melody, like that of a bell. The most remarkable feature of the watch is the fact that the repeater function can be activated both for local time and for a second-time-zone, which is indicated on the dial by the central arrow hand and the am/pm indicator on the counter at 3 o’clock. In this case too, the simplicity of selection and of activating what is, in essence, a double hour and minute repeater mechanism, is astonishing and the device is designed not to affect the safety of the movement.
It also has the remarkable Panerai tourbillon regulator, which can be admired from both the front and the back of the watch thanks to the sophisticated work of skeletonisation. In the system patented by Officine Panerai, the rotation of the tourbillon is different from that of the classic tourbillon. In the traditional version the balance cage rotates continuously on itself, cancelling out any variations caused by gravity and possible shocks. In the innovative Panerai mechanism, the tourbillon cage rotates on an axis which is perpendicular, not parallel, to that of the balance. Also, while the rotation is once a minute in a traditional tourbillon, in the P.2005/MR it takes 30 seconds, and this is shown by an indicator which rotates in the small seconds counter at 9 o’clock. The greater speed and the particular arrangement of the mechanism enable it to compensate for any changes of rate very effectively, ensuring a very accurate precision timepiece.
ArtyA Shining Star Tourbillon 1/1
This unique piece with exclusive ArtyA flying tourbillion is designed by Yvan Arpa and engineered by MHC. With its iconic patented shape, the watch’s tourbillon cage bridges recall the exclusive design of the watch hands. One crown for setting the time and winding, it’s shaped like a guitar tuning peg. The case is humidity and dust protected only (not water resistant). It has power reserve of 100 hrs and has frequency of 21,600 vph. Enriched with an open back, the case dimensions are 37×49 mm with a depth of 15mm.
