I once heard someone say that the definition of art is that it must exist only for itself.  That is, the thing must have no other function than just to be.  I don’t remember who said it, or if it makes any sense to me, but when it comes to watches, I think that the only thing on a watch that even comes close to that definition would be the tourbillon.

You see on any normal expensive mechanical watch, every “complication” has a purpose.  A chronograph is obviously used to time things, a perpetual calendar makes it so that the user doesn’t have to worry about changing dates during leap years, a starchart can keep track of the skies, and a minute repeater makes lovely chiming noises.

So how do they do that stuff? Well it’s all by mechanical parts.  Ever wonder why watches not covered in diamonds and King Tut’s jewels can cost as much as a house?  It’s because they have an intricate system of cogs, springs, and things like that doing VERY “complicated” stuff in a very small space.

Whereas chronographs and date displays are all kiddie stuff in the watch world, some of the most complicated functions you will find on a wristwatch are perpetual calendars, skycharts, minute repeaters, and the granddaddy of them all…

The TOURBILLON!

To start things off, let’s explain what a tourbillon is…

In essence a tourbillon is a rotating cage for a watch’s “engine.”  It’s no wider or thicker than a button, yet consists of scores of very small parts.  It’s a remarkable watchmaking achievement.  In the old days almost a century ago when pocketwatches were popular, it was believed that gravity had a negative effect on the watch’s accuracy; Because of the way pocketwatch movements were built during the time, and because of the fact that pocketwatches sat in pockets virtually in the same position for most of the day (crown-up in a vest pocket), it was believed that if you rotated the watch’s escapement and the watch’s balance wheel, or watch’s “engine,” for simplicity’s sake, you could then negate the negative effects of gravity.

Below is a modern-day tourbillon from Breguet, the company that practically invented the wristwatch and made the very first example of the tourbillon:

It was never really sure if a tourbillon actually improved a watch’s accuracy even back in those days, but one thing that IS certain is that it has NO practical use in this day of modern-day wristwatches.

First of all, wristwatches don’t sit idle in a vest pocket all day long so the “engine” of a watch is constantly moving and in different positions (as long as you wear it), secondly, a tourbillon’s effect, even back then, was questionable at best, and movements in luxury automatic watches are already as accurate as can be.

In watchmaking, however, it is considered the most difficult thing a watchmaker could hope to do, and even in its most basic form, it can costs many TENS of THOUSANDS of dollars and many man hours to complete.  The fact that it is a masterpiece of achievement, of course, is what makes it desirable.

What can I say, it is the Mt. Everest of all watch complications, and when watchmakers make a tourbillon, they make it for all the world to see in a beautiful spinning display.  Take for example this Corum:

Corum Tourbillon 18K White Gold Silver Dial Men’s Watch

The tourbillon which you can of course see in the 10 o’ clock position will continue to spin in all of its glory as long as it is wound.  In the watch world it is the very definition of excess.  It is spending well into the 5 to 6 figures for a beautiful rotating button-sized contraption that does NOTHING.  The rarity and exclusively of tourbillon watches is eclipsed only by their price tags.

What can I say, these watches are ONLY for the super rich, and embody the very definition of art.