Tourbillon

The Tourbillon is an additional feature to the regulating organ whose goal is to improve the accuracy of the watch. It was developed around 1795 and patented by A.L. Breguet in 1804. In a tourbillon watch, the escapement and balance wheel are mounted in a rotating cage, in order to negate the effects of gravity on the escapement. By continuously rotating the entire regulating organ assembly (typically one revolution per minute), the tourbillon averages out positional errors. If this device was crucial in pocket watches that remained in a static position, it is less relevant in modern wristwatches and is to be seen as a demonstration of watchmaking savoir-faire.