Four Top Tourbillons That Take Your Breath Away

While a tourbillon is, in general, a complication that will put most watch connoisseurs in awe, there is quite a difference among them. The most traditional ones feature a bridge on both sides, in between which they do their mesmerizing dance. A flying tourbillon lacks the front bridge, which allows you to see more of the intricate parts that make a tourbillon work. As the tourbillon is such a popular complication, many brands have made it a focal point for their technical creativity, which has resulted in watches that truly take your breath away.

Hublot Big Bang Tourbillon Power Reserve 5 Days Sapphire
When Hublot creates a tourbillion, it is never just about the complication, but also about how it is integrated within the rest of the movement and watch. Design is just as crucial to the brand as mechanical excellence, and the Big Bang Tourbillon Power Reserve 5 days Sapphire combines them both. By making not only the case but also the bridges of the movement from sapphire crystal, can you admire the flying tourbillon from every angle. This creates a watch, unlike any other, and allows you to examine all the parts that make the movement function in a way that, until now, only a watchmaker could.

Richard Mille RM 58-01 Tourbillon World Timer Jean Todt
For Richard Mille is the tourbillon an important complication, and equally important is developing watches with friends that have a genuine and profound love and interest for the brand. In the RM 58-01 Tourbillon World Timer Jean Todt, both are combined into what is in many ways the ultimate traveler’s watch. As President of the FIA has Jean Todt traveled to over 130 countries, and with this watch, he can keep track of multiple timezones simultaneously. A tourbillon is also prominently visible on the dial side of the RM 58-01. It has a diameter of 11.90mm and is fitted with a free-sprung balance with variable inertia to ensure even greater precision, no matter where you are in the world.

Greubel Forsey Tourbillon 24 Secondes Asymétrique Edition Historique
Just as Richard Mille is the tourbillon also for Greubel Forsey one of their key complications. Over the years, they have spent a tremendous amount of effort into further developing and perfecting this device. Where in most watches a tourbillon is placed in a horizontal position and takes one minute to complete a rotation, does Greubel Forsey play with these variables to create an optimum result. For their Tourbillon 24 Secondes Asymétrique Edition Historique, they place the tourbillon inclined at a 25° angle and let it rotate in just 24 seconds. This makes the complication not only work at its optimum but also offers a visual spectacle as Greubel Forsey expands the case of its watch to give the tourbillon a ‘theatre’ of its own. A sapphire crystal on the side of the case also allows you to view it from this angle.

Rotonde de Cartier Mysterious Double Tourbillon
A flying tourbillon that seems to float in mid-air appears to be a mirage, but the Rotonde Mysterious Double tourbillon is very real. What comes close to being a magic trick is made possible by an ingenious system of sapphire gears. This allowed Cartier to hide what connects the flying tourbillon with the rest of the movement in plain sight. La Maison takes it to an even higher level by also skeletonizing the watch, with bridges shaped like the Roman numerals that are so characteristic for the brand. This makes this watch even more of a mystery and a truly breathtaking tourbillon.