Although it has been a while since our last complications blog post, we are well and truly back. To continue our series we are going to talk about the tourbillon complication. Just like with the chronograph post, I am going to talk about the history of the tourbillon, why it came about, and I will also talk about the tourbillon in the current market and some of my favorite pieces.

There is a reason that the tourbillon came about as a complication in the first place. As watchmakers became more knowledgeable about the world, and more generally physics, they realized that gravity might have some effect on the accuracy of a movement. It is more to do with the watch being in a certain position more than in other positions, but the whole science behind it is confusing, so I won’t try to explain in crazy amounts of detail. It is just something to do with gravity. The people that do know what they are talking about are the ones that did something about it. That is why the legendary watchmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet patented the tourbillon movement at the dawn of the 19th century, to make sure that watches would not have any issues with gravity disrupting the precise movement of time.

The majority of the watches that were made with this type of complication at the time of its birth were pocket watches. Pocket watches are cool and symbolized great wealth back in the day. That is why there were many elites that requested custom made watches specifically with this complication when it was created. Pocket watches nowadays are cool and all, but personally I would much rather wear a watch on my wrist than in my pocket. It is just so much easier to look at my wrist and see the time, than to have to go to my pocket, pull out the watch and only then see the time. These days tourbillons are a famous complication across major luxury watch brands, usually costing more than a chronograph or other less intricate complications.

Among my favorites is the Patek Phillipe 5207G and the Richard Mille 69. The Patek being a classy piece, I like how you can have a piece that is not incredibly showy, but still looks clean on anyone’s arm. Obviously, it is still a Patek so people will recognize it no matter where you are, but it is most definitely more lowkey than the second piece that I have chosen for this complication. The Richard Mille 69 isn’t named that for no reason. Although probably not the most classy watch of all time, the “Erotic Torubillion” is a watch to dream of. I actually have been dreaming about this watch for a long time: it has been the background photo on my phone for the past 4 years, taking precedence over pictures of loved ones. With the funny sayings that change with a press of a button, to an incredible movement, this watch has it all. These are just two of a plethora of watches with a tourbillon complication, and these are the ones that I wanted to point out. There are watches for anyone out there, specifically with a tourbillon complication. However, I am not the biggest fan of the tourbillon.

Nowadays it has become somewhat obsolete. It is common knowledge that the tourbillon does not do as much as originally thought. It is a much more intricate complication than a regular chronograph, but a chronograph is just as good at keeping time as a tourbillon. So you are paying for a more complicated watch for absolutely no reason. Although it's cool to have a complicated watch, there is no reason to overpay if all you care about is keeping time and not the complexity of your timepiece. That, however, is just my opinion, everyone should have their own opinion on this issue.

This was just another installment of our complications series, and we will be back posting more about other types of complications soon. Stay tuned!

Complications: Tourbillion

AP x Travis Scott