Tourbillon

The Tourbillon Watch

In French, “tourbillon” translates into “whirlwind,” but in the watch making industry it is the term of a relatively complex feature present in some high-end timepieces. By default, all wrist watches are assumed to tell the time. Each function beyond that is often referred to as a “complication.” These are features which enhance a watch movement or offer some additional piece of information. A tourbillon is an historic complication originally designed to improve the accuracy of pocket watches. It was developed by the famous watchmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet. For most of its life, the tourbillon was an interesting but often obscure feature in mechanical watches.

During the latter part of the 20th century, the tourbillon experienced a comeback. The onslaught of quartz watches almost killed the mechanical watch industry in the 1980s. As a result, some clever people in Switzerland decided that the mechanical watch would fight back by transforming itself into almost exclusively a luxury item. The more complicated the movement, the more luxurious it would be. The concept was far from new, being borrowed from the reality that very complex watches can be extremely difficult and time consuming to produce. This undeniable fact is a cornerstone of why some mechanical watches are extremely expensive.

Nevertheless, in my opinion, Chinese tourbillons today are nothing to laugh at. Consumers who appreciate the mechanism have very viable options from Chinese manufacturers, especially if they cannot afford those from Switzerland. This is extremely important because right now there are actually so many available watches with Chinese tourbillon movements at prices which are one tenth or less of those from Switzerland that the exclusivity of the complication has been severely eroded.

Consumers wanting to communicate wealth and status to the public by owning tourbillon watches will be able to do so less and less. The average price of a watch with a higher quality Chinese tourbillon is between about $3,000 – $5,000. There are dozens of brands which offer them, and many of these watches look quite good. In Hong Kong I was able to experience this for myself.

I spend a lot of time viewing the world’s best watches and have seen everything from basic to extremely exotic Swiss tourbillon timepieces. Recently at the 2012 Hong Kong Watch & Clock Fair I was able to update my knowledge of tourbillons from China. What I saw mostly impressed me. Enthusiastic producers in China sell some beautiful tourbillons which are 90% of what the Swiss ones are. An argument can be made that the missing 10% is worth a 90% price gap between the Swiss and Asian tourbillon, but the reality is that many consumers will flock to those from China which offer most of what they are looking for.

The highest-end Swiss tourbillon watch will always have a special status and cache among the world’s “in the know” elite. However, the tourbillon’s wider reputation as an indicator of extreme wealth is about to quickly erode as inexpensive Chinese tourbillons increasingly hit the market.

Are we there yet? No. Chinese tourbillon watch makers still face a distribution dilemma. Their products are rather easily available in Asia, but globally it is difficult to purchase Chinese tourbillon watches from established high-end watch retailers.

You simply won’t see a $5,000 Chinese tourbillon sitting next to a $100,000 Swiss tourbillon at the same store – at least not yet. If demand for Chinese tourbillon watches picks up among enthusiasts, then retailers world-wide will increasingly carry these products, making them more widely available

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