Whirlwind Romance: 4 Watches with Multiple Tourbillons


TAG Heuer Carrera MikroPendulumSNowadays, almost any luxury watch brand worthy of the name offers at least one timepiece with a tourbillon. But there are only a handful of brands that have pushed the envelope to create watches with two, three or even four tourbillons. Here we take a look at four such watches that made their debut at this year’s Baselworld and SIHH watch fairs.

Roger Dubuis is the only watch company to produce a watch with a movement that is both skeletonized and equipped with two flying tourbillons. The Excalibur Double Tourbillon Skeleton, introduced at the SIHH in January, features the brand’s imposing 45-mm-diameter Excalibur case, recently redesigned to be 12 percent thinner and more ergonomic. The case maintains the distinctive fluted bezel, prominent crown guard, and triple-lug strap attachment. The movement, in-house Caliber RD01SQ, has 319 parts and incorporates a differential system that averages the rates of the two tourbillons for greater timekeeping precision.

Roger Dubuis Excalibur Double_Tourbillon Skeleton LE - front
Above and below: Roger Dubuis Excalibur Double Tourbillon Skeleton

Roger Dubuis Excalibur Double Tourbillon Skeleton - LE

Click below to watch Roger Dubuis’s video of the Excalibur Double Tourbillon Skeleton…

Greubel Forsey has not only created several watches with more than one tourbillon; it has made the multiple-tourbillon watch a hallmark of the brand. And in most cases, it is not shy about showing those tourbillons off. In this year’s Quadruple Tourbillon Secret, however, discretion is the name of the game. In this extremely limited timepiece — only eight will be made — the four tourbillons are hidden beneath the blackened gold dial and visible only through the exhibition caseback or through a lateral viewing window in the caseband. In Greubel Forsey’s system, the four tourbillons work as two pairs of double tourbillons (with 30-degree inclined balances) linked by a spherical differential system similar to the ones used in cars. The large small-seconds subdial at 7/8 o’clock displays 240 seconds, indicating the four-minute rotation of the outer double tourbillon cage, while the smaller subdial at 5 o’clock shows the four-minute rotation of the second double tourbillon cage. The power-reserve subdial at 2 o’clock indicates the average rate of the two inclined wheel oscillators, arrived at by means of the differential. The movement, composed of 519 components (261 of which make up the four tourbillon cages) has two mainspring barrels that hold a power reserve of 50 hours.

 

Greubel Forsey Quadruple Tourbillon Secret - front
Greubel Forsey Quadruple Tourbillon Secret, front (above) and back (below)

Greubel Forsey Quadruple Tourbillon Secret - back

 

Click below for a Greubel Forsey HD video showing how its Quadruple Tourbillon à Differentiel system works…

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  1. Michael z

    I feel like a tourbillion discussion should include Thomas Prescher. His tripple tourbillon, and mechanical mystery are staggering.

    Reply
  2. Watchguy79

    Obviously would take the Greubel Forsey here, in my opinion the best finishing out there. Definitely up to par with, KV, P Dufour, and better than Patek any day…. They are the watches of all watches IMO. Their stealth tourb are amazing….

    Love seeing what they come out with every year. Please, no more Big Bang Tourbillons, enough is enough, the Tag is sick too,

    Reply
  3. Dean Grant Baker

    And Seagul just released a dual tourby for under 40 000 usd [and they already have single tourbies for under 1 000 usd.] and they perforn and outperform pieces costing 100 times as much.

    out in Sept. 2013

    The technical details of the Sea-Gull Wing Tourbillon movement:

    Components: 261

    Total diameter: 33.8mm

    Total height: 6.35mm

    55 hours power reserve

    The inner carriage rotates a circle every 60 seconds

    The outer carriage rotates a circle every 150 seconds

    Total mass of tourbillon: 0.68g

    Time indicator at 4 o’clock

    Power reserve indicator at 2 o’clock

    21,600 A/h
    The inner carriage is made by Titanium and the outer carriage is made by Aluminum, in order to reach a relatively low weight of the dual-axis tourbillon system.

    Total components of the tourbillon system: 137

    Silicon made escape wheel, in order to reach a better weight distribution. In addition to a free sprung system

    6 microstella type weights on the balance wheel

    hyper accurate

    and about tens times less than a “swiss made” tourby.

    swiss is in quotes for a reason

    The commercially available version will be launched in late 2013, the presell price is 300,000 CNY (about 48,000 CHF

    and it IS A REAL tourby unlike the panerai

    the Panerai Tourbillon P.2005 is NOT rotating as we expect it doing it from a typical tourbillon, some colleagues and I simply called it the chicken grill when Panerai presented us the P.2005 in Florence some years ago. Even when the Panerai construction is meant to be a tourbillon one could discuss if this is really a tourbillon in spirit of Abraham Louis Breguet.

    Reply
  4. Steve Cseplo

    The TAG is sharp. I really like it. Not that I’d ever be able to afford iit.

    Reply
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