The Tourbillon Watch - the whirlwind among watches

The tourbillon watch is one of the mechanical wristwatches and pocket watches, and it is one of the most complex constructions in the watchmaking world, one that only a few watchmakers can produce.

Tourbillon comes from the French word for “whirlwind” and was invented around 1800 by Abraham Louis Breguet. The famous watchmaker wanted to develop a design that would compensate for rate inaccuracies in mechanical watches. He came up with the “Régulateur à Tourbillon” in 1795 (the official term for a tourbillon design), which was patented for him in Paris in 1801.

The tourbillon is a movable cage in the mechanism, in which the balance wheel and escapement are housed, and which rotates around its own axis in a specific rhythm. This makes it possible to compensate for vertical positional errors. In tourbillon wristwatches, perfect compensation cannot be achieved, as watch wearers usually move too much and too suddenly, meaning inaccuracies cannot be fully balanced out. In the pocket watch, for which the tourbillon design was originally intended, compensation works better, although small inaccuracies may still remain here too, due to temperature influences, among other things.

Because of the high level of difficulty involved in making tourbillon watches, only small quantities are usually produced, which makes them correspondingly expensive and especially popular with collectors. You can also find tourbillon watches in our shop, for example from Ingersoll . A visual special feature of tourbillon watches is that the tourbillon carriage is usually visible through a window in the dial, offering a unique insight into the mechanics of a watch.

Since the development of the tourbillon design in the 19th century, several watchmakers have further developed the famous carriage. Watchmaker Alfred Helwig, for example, developed the so-called “flying tourbillon” in 1920, in which the cage is supported only on the underside and the upper bridge for support is omitted. Like the minute repeater, the tourbillon watch is one of the watches with complications.

The Ingersoll IN5308RWH Tourbillon Wristwatch

As our watch of the week, we have chosen the Ingersoll IN5308RWH Tourbillon Wristwatch this time because of its special features. Like all other tourbillon wristwatches, it is an especially high-quality watch. Its brown leather strap has a width of 22 mm. You can order the watch from our shop with free shipping and a 100-day return policy, quickly and easily!