Every year, June 26th is designated "Tourbillon Day" by Breguet, and commemorative events are held around the world. This special day is because it marks the day that the company's founder, watchmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet, patented the tourbillon on June 26th, 1801, on Messidor 7, Year 9 of the French Republican calendar, during the French Revolution. More than two centuries later, the tourbillon remains synonymous with Breguet and is the brand's most sophisticated and complication-rich mechanism. This article introduces tourbillon masterpieces from modern Breguet, which continue to evolve through the introduction of innovative technologies while carrying on this great tradition.
Text by Shigeru Sugawara
Article published on August 7, 2019
Immortal principles and mechanisms passed down to the present day
Breguet = tourbillon, and the complication is so inextricably linked to its inventor that if you trace the origins of every tourbillon ever made in the world, regardless of the era or watchmaker, you will inevitably find your way back to Abraham-Louis Breguet.
Abraham-Louis Breguet's "tourbillon regulator" was patented in France in 1801. The idea originated even earlier, around 1795, when Breguet fled to Switzerland to escape the turmoil of the French Revolution. Research and development took roughly 10 years from 1795, and only 35 tourbillon watches were sold during Breguet's lifetime. Due to its unique complexity and extremely difficult construction, the tourbillon was long lost to history, but it wasn't until the late 1980s that it was rediscovered. With the revival of mechanical watches, the tourbillon returned to the forefront as the most sophisticated complication in wristwatches. For Breguet, which had resurrected itself as a premium watch brand, high-end tourbillon watches became flagship models, evocative of its venerable origins.
The tourbillon was originally conceived to eliminate the deviations caused by an offset in the center of gravity in pocket watches, which are often worn upright. Today, it is generally described as a complex mechanism that achieves stable accuracy by counteracting the effects of gravity on the balance wheel, which regulates the movement. Abraham-Louis Breguet's solution was to house the balance wheel with its attached balance spring and escapement in a carriage and rotate them at a constant speed. This is an ingenious reversal of the concept. It's easy to understand if you think of the escapement itself constantly changing position in a stationary watch. This mechanism, invented by Breguet, remains the basic principle of all tourbillons today. Incidentally, the word "tourbillon," coined by the inventor himself, means "swirl" or "whirlwind" in French. The inventor appears to have superimposed the rotating escapement in the carriage on the image of a celestial system revolving around a central axis, using Descartes's vortex theory (tourbillon) as a metaphor for this watch mechanism.
Current tourbillons are available with either manual-winding or automatic base movements. The manual-winding models feature a traditional design, a screw-loaded balance wheel with a low frequency of 18,000 vph, and no high-tech materials at their core. In stark contrast are the latest automatics. The ultra-thin 581 series, introduced in 2013, boasts a peripheral rotor and automatic winding. The tourbillon mechanism utilizes a free-sprung titanium balance wheel with an inertia compensation screw and a titanium carriage, along with a silicon escapement and Breguet balance spring. The entire movement weighs less than 0.29g. Its high frequency of 28,800 vph, combined with a newly developed high-energy barrel, provides a power reserve of approximately 80 hours. A groundbreaking new generation tourbillon movement, a first for Breguet, is now a powerful engine that enriches the lineage of masterpieces.
Classique Tourbillon Extra-plat Squelette 5395
The latest model announced for 2019 is a skeleton model featuring an ultra-thin automatic tourbillon movement just 3mm thick, with openworking applied to the extreme. The watch reveals the innovative tourbillon mechanism, high-energy barrel, and peripheral rotor, all of which are distinctive features of the groundbreaking Cal. 581 series. The watch also showcases the masterful techniques of Breguet Manufacture artisans, such as delicate guilloching, engraving, and chamfering.
Because the skeleton design exposes everything, the movement components are perfectly finished down to the smallest detail. The Clous de Paris pattern, carved into a tiny space using a manual guilloche engraving machine, and the unparalleled precision of the chamfering throughout are truly impressive. Automatic winding (Cal. 581SQ). 33 jewels. 28,800 vph. Power reserve of approximately 80 hours. Pt950 (diameter 41mm). Water resistant to 3 bar. Estimated price: 26,050,000 yen.
A panoramic view of the masterpiece movement
While Breguet has previously presented skeletonized manual-winding tourbillon movements, this latest offering is an ambitious departure from the standard approach. It's the first fully skeletonized tourbillon in a modern interpretation. Breguet chose the Caliber 581 family, which, at just 3mm thick, is one of the world's thinnest automatic tourbillons. The plates and bridges, which correspond to the traditional skeletonized components, are crafted from 18K gold, ensuring durability, ease of processing and decoration, and a color that complements the Breguet blue. What's surprising is that the design pushes the limits, reducing the movement's material by approximately 50%. The result is a resounding success. As you can see, most of the movement and the entire tourbillon are completely open, providing excellent visibility. The Roman numerals and indices printed on the sapphire crystal do not obstruct the view of the mechanism. The view through the case back is also exceptional. The core structure that contributed to the realization of the ultra-thin movement, such as the peripheral rotor on the outer periphery of the movement, the high-energy barrel that supplies power for approximately 80 hours of power reserve, and Breguet's unique tourbillon mechanism that obtains power from the gear train from the outside of the carriage, are revealed, and the mechanism of operation is clear at a glance. The Caliber 581, which has attracted attention since its preview in 2013, has reached one of its ultimate forms as the skeletonized 581SQ, and watch enthusiasts will be intrigued.
Classique Tourbillon Extra-plat Automatique 5367
At first glance, it appears to be an ordinary, simple watch. The face, with its tourbillon set against a white dial in Grand Feu enamel adorned with Breguet numerals, gives off an impression reminiscent of the Classique 7147, an ultra-thin automatic watch with a striking minimalist aesthetic. However, what stands in stark contrast to its appearance is its internals. Like the skeleton model on the right, the 3mm-thick ultra-thin automatic movement, Cal. 581, is a cutting-edge tourbillon that embodies Breguet's cutting-edge technology.
The Grand Feu enamel dial, featuring Breguet numerals, features an off-center design with the main dial slightly toward 11 o'clock. A blue spinel is set on the tourbillon bridge, and the movement, visible through the case back, is lavishly engraved. Automatic (Cal. 581). 33 jewels. 28,800 vph. Power reserve approximately 80 hours. Pt950 (diameter 41mm). Water resistant to 3 bar. Price: 1752 million yen.
The first Grand Feu enamel complication
The dials in Breguet's Classique collection can be divided into two basic types: either gold or mother-of-pearl plates with various patterns engraved using a manual guilloching machine, or enamel fired in a high-temperature furnace. Both guilloching and enameling are typical techniques that date back to the pocket watches of Abraham-Louis Breguet's time, and are important design codes that have been passed down to the present day. The 5367, released in 2018, is the first time that a white dial made of Grand Feu enamel has been used on an ultra-thin automatic tourbillon. Grand Feu enamel dials have long been desired for Breguet complications, and this model marks the first time they have been realized.
Breguet equipped the watch with the caliber 581, and to highlight its pure, minimalist design, it removed the power reserve indicator found in previous models and instead featured a white enamel dial with only blued steel Breguet hands and a tourbillon. The serene, pure white beauty of the 5367's face draws the eye, and it exudes a refined elegance that is different from guilloched engraving, making it a masterpiece that makes you think that if wristwatch tourbillons had been available in Abraham-Louis Breguet's heyday, a model like this might have been created. While using essentially the same movement, it creates a modest "world of stillness" that contrasts well with the "world of movement" seen in the skeleton model on the right, which displays the mechanism in full view.
