Did You Know That: A Tourbillon Is Not A Complication

This article is from the WatchTime Archives and was originally published in February 2022.

In a successful attempt to cancel out as much of the influence of gravity on the precision of a pocket watch, Abraham-Louis Breguet invented the tourbillon. On June 26, 1801, he was granted a patent for it, yet the production for clients didn't commence before 1805. Even after the patent expired, a pocket watch with a tourbillon remained rare, as it took exceptional skills to craft. In wristwatches, the tourbillon was a late bloomer. Some brands, including Omega, experimented with tourbillon movements in prototypes, but it wasn't until after the quartz crisis that this complication became truly popular and more commonly seen.

Many still think that the tourbillon is a complication. While it is most certainly complex to make, it is an addition to the escapement of the watch. As this is an essential piece of a mechanical watch, it doesn't count as a complication. In this same light is also a remontoire, or the co-axial escapement invented by George Daniels, not a complication, while they do require considerable expertise to make.

This brings up the question of what is a complication? The answer to that depends on who you are asking. A purist might say anything but the hour hand. Early clocks had only a single hand to tell the time. However, as we are talking here about wristwatches, the most widely accepted consensus on this matter is that any added function to a watch beyond the display of hours, minutes, and seconds counts as a complication. So even when a 60-seconds tourbillon doubles as a seconds hand, it still doesn't make the cut.

Do you have any questions you want the answer to? Ask us in the comment box below, and we might feature it in an upcoming edition of "Did you know that…."