jkingston
356
Different thoughts
First we have to face reality. Tourbillons in a wrist watch are not there for the chronometry. Journe once joked that the "best way to improve the performance of his tourbillon was to take out the tourbillon". Actually that was not too much of a joke, since he did just that with his Chronometre Optimum where he left in the constant force, took out the tourbillon. Let's face it. The human wrist is a wonderful natural tourbillon. It moves the watch (and its escapement) into a multitude of positions all day long. Thus, a tourbillon that compensates for positional errors is really not needed.
Do I therefore denounce tourbillons? Absolutely not! When done well (and done in-house) they are classy embodiments of watchmaking art. They are visually entertaining, bringing great interest to the watch. Therefore I prize the tourbillons (and the related cousin Carrousel) watches that I own. I enjoy wearing them.
One more thing. Technically speaking....applying watchmaking definitions....tourbillons are not now and never have been "complications". Watchmaking complications are defined as something other than timekeeping mechanisms. Since the function of a tourbillon is timekeeping, it is not a complication. But then today, must of us think of anything that makes the watch harder to build qualifies as a complication. So maybe it is time for the Berner watchmaking dictionary and the watchmaking schools to modernize their definitions.
Some stream of consciousness thoughts on tourbillons
I was asked recently, as an editorial advisor, my thoughts on tourbillons today. I thought my reply to the EIC might start an interesting discussion here. "Just a few quick knee jerk thoughts on the subject (sorry, limited to a Blackberry for the moment; ...
Interesting thoughts
One of the points I may add is that the traditional tourbillon almost never was shown on the dial side. And honestly, why the need to show it? Unless.... I agree with the fact that there is the category of the kinetic art such as Haldimann and GF. Both wi...
Thanks, Dirk. I agree with your further points...
and for those of us that understand that tourbillons in practice often don't increase averaged rate stability - the complexity of the escapement introduces more errors than it compensates for, in most cases - those of us who still appreciate and like tour...
Before GF, I think that JLC has to be mentionned, with the Gyro One.
The biggest problem I have with the Tourbillon is that Marketing teams killed the Tourbillon. From the natural sophistication of whzt is by essence a sophistication, we had a marketing product, in most of the cases. The sophistication, vulgarized. A pity....
I agree the contemporary tourbillon is mostly a marketing exercise...
with few exceptions. Eric Coudrey's GyroT is, of course, amazing and of course would fall into both categories (1) and (2a) advancing the technology and SOTA (state of the art), perhaps even (2c) tourbillon as art or abstraction, in the same way as G-F, t...
You say it better in your second language than I could in my first.
"Sophistication, vulgarized." That sells, but it's not something most of us want. The participants on this thread all seem to agree that some tourbillons are worth the trouble. At this stage, their raison d'etre cannot simply be "because it's a tourbillon...
Different thoughts
First we have to face reality. Tourbillons in a wrist watch are not there for the chronometry. Journe once joked that the "best way to improve the performance of his tourbillon was to take out the tourbillon". Actually that was not too much of a joke, sin...
I'm not sure we were saying anything different...
Hi, Jeff, Thanks for the further thoughts. In reading your comments, I'm not sure we were saying anything different, though it is always nice to read things from another perspective or with different wording, something akin to reading or discussing the sa...
What are each of us looking for in watchmaking?
First, the Tourbillon mechanism was made, if I remember well, for pocket watches: as they remained in a vertical position and still (in theory) in the pocket, making the escapement rotating on the level of where it carries "mistakes" is good for time keep...
Thanks for your thoughts...
I find the " stream of consciousness" thought process you've used very appealing since it illustrate your raw thoughts, void of editing that could have made your comments too editorial and, in a way, less informative. Very well done! Emil
Thank you for your kind words. While I still believe that...
being respectfully considered is the best way to go for most posts, sometimes, raw unfiltered thoughts are necessary to reset the bullshit meter... Thanks again for your kind words. TM
I liked this conversation so thanks for everyone's thoughts.
I offer the thought of comparing whether a tourbillon is useful or not to whether a minute repeater is useful or not. I see in this thread the heart of why we like watches... the history of innovation, how England dominated then lost it all because it stu...