The Ulysse Nardin Anchor Tourbillon Blue Enamel is the third Anchor Tourbillon since the first one was launched at the beginning of 2015
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 Armin Strom Tourbillon Skeleton is spectacular to see and unique in its kind and celebrates the highlight of the ultimate watch complication