What goes up still has to come down, so gravity still has the last laugh. However, in the watch world, with the increasing popularity of tourbillon watches, we have at least tamed gravity’s pernicious influence on timekeeping.
A tourbillon complication, very briefly, is a highly complex contraption that primarily corrects the effects of gravity, which prove a drag on accuracy. Tourbillon complications have become a signifier for watchmaking prowess, with any watchmaker wanting to be taken seriously producing tourbillon movements.
However, the investment in the highly technical process of making tourbillons does push the prices up, making them inaccessible to mortals of modest means. Frederique Constant, seeing a potential, has produced a tourbillon watch that excels in performance and technicality but also comes at an amazing price. Available in steel (HK$270,000) and rose gold (HK$290,000 – pictured below left), the Frederique Constant Slimline Tourbillon watch is an absolute steal. The Slimline Tourbillon is a classically designed watch inspired by the 1950s, with clean lines and a minimum of clutter, allowing the tourbillon to come to the fore. The Frederique Constant Slimline Tourbillon, limited to 188 numbered pieces and presented in a special box, is a wonderful piece of affordable luxury.
Despite Frederique Constant’s valiant attempts to democratise the tourbillon mechanism, more often than not the complication has an association with high-end horological pieces, which of course means high horological prices.
The independent Swiss watchmaker DeWitt has used complications like the tourbillon to stand out from the crowd, and the brand does this to maximum effect with the Twenty-8-Eight Tourbillon Skeleton.