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T i m e c o m p l i c at i o n
T i m e c o m p l i c at i o n
“Breguet, as a company, was probably the most prolific creator, inventor, researcher and marketing operator in watchmaking, but also in the pure art of design and aesthetics” — nicolas g. hayek
La Tradition “Breguet, as a company, was probably the most prolific creator, inventor, researcher and marketing operator in watchmaking, but also in the pure art of design and aesthetics. La Tradition is the modern expression of Breguet’s tradition,” Hayek said in 2005 upon launching the unusual model family that has become one of the pillars of the brand. La Tradition was inspired by one of A. L. Breguet’s subscription watches. The famous watchmaker was a very shrewd businessman, and in order to take orders from his wealthy clientele without going broke paying for precious materials and labor in advance, he employed the idea of the subscription, which today might be considered something like a deposit. The client paid a part of total price agreed upon for the finished watch, and Breguet in turn
bought the materials and began to work without having to pre-finance the piece. The customer often had to wait several years before he or she ever saw the desired timepiece, but it was always worth the wait. La Tradition contains one of Breguet’s ingenious inventions from 1790, the forerunner of Kif and Incabloc, the parechute. It protects the balance staff against knocks, like any good shock protection. At BaselWorld 2010, Breguet introduced the latest version of La Tradition, which bears the reference number 7047. It contains a tourbillon, a chain and fusée for constant force, and a silicon balance spring with a Breguet overcoil terminal curve.
ABOVE Abraham-Louis Breguet, inventor of the tourbillon RIGHT Tourbillons have become an essential high-end complication for every watch brand. In SIHH this year, Roger Dubuis presented the Exalibur Pierced Tourbillon, equipped with the self-winding caliber RD 520. It reveals its micro-rotor and tourbillon from the front
Continuing the Tradition In the modern era of watchmaking, which could be termed the post-mechanical renaissance, the tourbillon is found in almost every top-of-the-line wristwatch — and indeed in every luxury company’s collection. Martin Braun explains that one of the last pieces added to his eponymous brand before his departure from the Franck Muller group came about because group CEO Vartan Sirmakes considered it necessary to have one in the line to be competitive: the Hyperion continues to be the top end of the Franck Muller-owned and -operated line. The 2010 watch fairs saw other fine examples of tourbillon work as well. Jean
Zenith El Primero Tourbillon Chronograph, equipped with cal. 4035D
Dunand’s Palace wowed visitors to BaselWorld 2010, though the tourbillon in this case had to compete with the Palace’s spectacular architecture, which was so captivating that the casual observer might even overlook the tourbillon beating away at the six o’clock position. Likewise, Zenith’s 2010 “relaunch”, with a new collection reflecting its history and tradition, also contains a tourbillon model. Though this particular specimen based upon the El Primero movement was created in the Nataf era, it speaks to its importance that new CEO Jean-Frédéric Dufour has reclothed it to match the rest of the classically oriented collection and retained it as the crowning glory of the collection. Though IWC’s focus is generally robust pilot’s watches, the Schaffhausen company also introduced a new version of the Portuguese Tourbillon Mystère with retrograde seconds for double-the-pleasure fascination for the eye. Born in the USA The United States can now also boast its first series-produced tourbillon. “I am a crazy watchmaker,” says Roland Murphy of RGM.
IWC Portuguese Tourbillon Mystère Retrograde, equipped with cal. 51900
“I have always known I wanted to make a tourbillon. It has taken a long time, but we got to a position where it was possible, so we did it. No budget, no customer, no idea what it would cost — just wanted to make it happen. The completed watch has exceeded my expectations.” Murphy’s brand new caliber MM2 is a 16.5-line manually wound movement with bridges and baseplate crafted in German silver. Murphy says that his one-minute tourbillon “has a cage that is one of the largest in a wristwatch of this size, coming in at 15.2 mm in diameter”. Boasting a unique seven-tooth click, its winding wheels are of wolf’s-tooth design, while the jewel settings in the cage are made of solid gold. Along with most elements of the movement, the case is made in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Complicated Beauties A. Lange & Söhne utilized the incredible “hacking seconds” invented for use in the Cabaret Tourbillon (the first stop-seconds mechanism ever to be fitted to a tourbillon) in the Lange 1 Tourbillon, part of the Homage to F. A. Lange anniversary edition. A Tourbograph “Pour le Mérite” modified with
A. Lange & Söhne Lange 1 Tourbillon ‘Homage to F. A. Lange’, equipped with cal. L961.2
honey-colored gold was also reissued as part of the anniversary collection. Produced in an edition of only 30 pieces, the 50mm Luminor 1950 Equation of Time Tourbillon Titanio is the most technically sophisticated wristwatch ever produced by Officine Panerai. It contains a tourbillon, a display of the equation of time, sunrise/ sunset times in the geographical location chosen by the owner, and a depiction of the night sky of the same city on the back. Panerai’s cal. P.2005 tourbillon movement is also unusual in that the plane of rotation is perpendicular, rather than parallel to, the mainplate, as well as set at an angle that ensures the tourbillon carriage is in a purely vertical or horizontal position as infrequently as possible — a genuine adaptation of the tourbillon to the wristwatch. Really heading into the complicated arena, Montblanc introduced the ExoTourbillon Chronographe. This manually wound timepiece not only boasts a monopusher chronograph and the display of a second time zone, it is outfitted with a four-minute tourbillon escapement that appears to be placed outside the rest of the movement.
REVOLUTION H 253
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this has created a worldwide demand for tourbillons. We are by far the biggest producer and seller of tourbillons in the world… I have been copied all my life with every creation I have ever made, so I am not astonished that this tourbillon craze has happened. Breguet today remains the most important tourbillon manufacturer of all brands worldwide and we manufacture more tourbillons in one year than all other brands combined, excluding the Swatch Group.” Although the Swatch Group does not release official production numbers, industry insiders put Breguet’s annual tourbillon production at 1,000 pieces or more.