Posts Tagged ‘Tourbillon’
Skeleton 3355 Breguet Classique Tourbillon, Platinum
Breguet around Daniel Roth was something else. This is a 3355, which might sound a lot like 3350 if you know your Breguet. Roth worked closely with Lemania for three years to develop this one-second tourbillon, which debuted in 1989. In fact, after Roth branched out on his own, this movement served as the ébauche…
Read More25643BA Audemars Piguet ‘Sun Ray’ Tourbillon
If the tourbillon is often utilized a bit garishly (and let’s be honest, it is), it certainly didn’t start that way. Despite almost no one knowing the reference and it rarely receiving a mention at all, this ‘Sun Ray’ ref. 25643 was the world’s first self-wound tourbillon wristwatch and the first to be serially produced.…
Read MoreJade Dial FP Journe Tourbillon Souverain
I always laugh a bit, quietly to myself, when first point of interest someone mentions about their watch is rarity. Rarity is great, market-marking even, but not interesting. FP Journe created Black Label, which I always thought was a Johnnie Walker for masochists, to reward their clients with something less common. Boutique exclusives for VIPs,…
Read More3357 Breguet Classique Tourbillon
Swatch Group haven’t managed to fuck up every one of their brands just yet. The day a Swatch x Breguet ‘collab’ arrives will be the day I lose faith in modern mainstream watchmaking. Some things weren’t meant to be distilled. Breguet stands for watchmaking quality above all else. Even if a tourbillon has never made…
Read MoreHaldimann H1 Flying Central Tourbillon
There’s no CNC machine at Haldimann, an independent whose philosophy is about as far from Rolex as watchmaking gets. The most modern machine they have is an optical microscope from the ’60s. I suspect if you showed an iPhone to Beat Haldimann he’d shout witchcraft and report you to the church immediately. Haldimann’s workshop and…
Read More740.056 A. Lange & Söhne Datograph Perpetual Tourbillon
I’m old enough in watch years to just remember a time when old Swiss men on the internet would call Lange ‘not as serious’ a brand as Patek Philippe. The comparison is useless, the two manufactures approach watchmaking with such distinct philosophies. But, if there were any remaining doubt, surely this ref. 740.056 puts it…
Read More3350 Breguet Tourbillon in Yellow Gold
The tourbillon makes no sense in the modern context. It’s designed to counteract the pull of gravity, down, on a balance. In a pocket watch, that’s great, because it’s always vertical. But in wristwatches, well, it’s about as useful as a chocolate teapot. Nonetheless, a rotating tourbillon cage does provide quite the visual drama and…
Read MoreFP Journe T30 Tourbillon Historique
Albert Camus once wrote that ‘a true masterpiece does not tell everything.’ There is beauty in artistry, but perhaps even more in mystery. Journe’s T30 has a magic about it, not because of what is revealed at first glance, beautiful though it is, but because of its unimaginable depth in engineering, finishing, and story it…
Read More0023 Blancpain Villeret Flying Tourbillon
Nineties Blancpain is a distinct beast entirely, from all of horology. Famously, toward the ceasefire of the quartz crisis, Blancpain ran ads claiming ‘since 1735, Blancpain has never produced a quartz watch and we never will.’ Jean-Claude Biver and Jacques Piguet may not have quite singlehanded dragged Swiss mechanical watchmaking into the modern era, but that…
Read MoreDB28TRS De Bethune Tourbillon
The DB28 is modern De Bethune’s halo offering. It has won all the awards, sustained market interest, and was perhaps the brand’s most audacious project of all time. In the wake of that success, De Bethune have been iterating and, year on year, offering slightly more niche DB28s in smaller quantities. De Bethune are an…
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