The Girard-Perregaux Tourbillon with Three Flying Bridges shows that bridges can also be an aesthetic feature, and not just a structural component
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.
.
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.
.
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.
.
Watches with a tourbillon
Another double tourbillon, this Arnold & Son Double Tourbillon White Gold Charoite Edition brings a new color to these ultra-limited editions
Another Extreme Sport variant by the Swiss brand, the TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph Tourbillon Extreme Sport, a bold 44-millimeter watch
A new iteration of the Classic Tourbillon is the Frederique Constant Classic Tourbillon Manufacture Aventurine, a mineral quartz material
A tribute to a legendary sports club, this is the Jacob & Co. Epic X Tourbillon FC Barcelona 125th Anniversary Edition. A special ‘blaugrana’ watch
Code 11.59 RD#4 a bit above budget? You might like this Audemars Piguet Code 11.59 Selfwinding Flying Tourbillon Chronograph 41 mm
This Hublot Spirit of Big Bang Tourbillon White Ceramic is only for the Chinese market and limited to just 8 pieces. But if you like orange or purple…
The TAG Heuer Carrera Tourbillon Centenary Edition is a limited edition of 10 pieces of TAG’s pretty affordable tourbillon
The almost inexhaustible Excaliber series gets a new variant with this Roger Dubuis Excalibur Monotourbillon White Gold with 60 diamonds
The Zenith Defy Skyline Tourbillon Felipe Pantone is a collaboration between the brand and the artist whose name is connected to this watch