This Graham Geo. Graham Orrery Tourbillon is a homage to George Graham who invented the orrery (together with Thomas Tompion)
The tourbillon (which is French for “whirlwind”) is an extra mechanism to the escapement of a watch. It aims to counter the effects of gravity by mounting the escapement and balance wheel in a rotating cage. This negates the effect of gravity when the timepiece, thus the escapement, is stuck in a certain position. Because of the continuous rotation of the entire balance wheel and escapement assembly positional errors are averaged out.
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The tourbillon was developed around 1795 and patented by the French-Swiss watchmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet on June 26, 1801 as an attempt to improve accuracy.
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The (mechanical) mechanisms of modern watches are so accurate that a tourbillon is not really necessary. Still, they can be found on (mostly expensive) watches, but more as a demonstration of watchmaking virtuosity.
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Watches with a tourbillon
The Bell & Ross BR-X1 Tourbillon RS17 looks like the steering wheel of the 2017 Renault RS17 Formula One car
The Hublot MP-09 Tourbillon Bi-Axis is a real Hublot: unconventional, big and expensive. But the view on the tourbillon is great
The Vacheron Constantin Malte Tourbillon Slate Dial is the latest tonneau within VC;s Malte collection featuring an extraordinary tourbillon
If you have the idea that it has elements of a ship, you are right. The Ulysse Nardin Marine Grand Deck Tourbillon Rose Gold even has a boom
A tourbillon, moon phase and day/night indicator with a stunning 3D view: the Girard-Perregaux Planetarium Tri-Axial
The Angelus U22 Tourbillon comes in carbon with titanium and is the brother of the Angelus U21 Tourbillon which comes in carbon with gold
The Angelus U21 Tourbillon in carbon-gold has no dial and no bezel. The main plate acts as dial and holds the movement and flying tourbillon
The Arnold & Son Tourbillon Chronometer No. 36 is an homage to a 240-year old pocket watch by John Arnold: the Arnold 36
Italian supercar manufacturer meets Swiss watch manufacturer. The result is this Roger Dubuis Excalibur Spider Single Tourbillon Italdesign