Breguet was the original inventor of the tourbillon complication for pocket watches about two centuries ago. It was meant to help pocket watches that sat in a mostly vertical position remain relatively accurate by attempting to average out the effects of gravity on the balance wheel. The 20th century saw the tourbillon complication finds its way into wrist watches, even though the complication was never really meant to assist the different way wrist watches are carried around. For the most part a tourbillon complication in a watch remains a novelty – but a beautiful and wonderful one to watch at that.
Breguet recently held an exhibit of their tourbillon watches. The Swatch Group, Breguet’s current parent, has a large center in Tokyo where many of its brands have shops. Here a large collection of Breguet tourbillon watches was on display. Even though Breguet started the tourbillon craze, their current approach to advancing it is via interesting interpretations on the theme. For example, their reference 3998 watch has the tourbillon combined with the hour hand on the watch, making it circle the watch dial once every 12 hours.
The exhibit was held from September 25 – 27 at the Breguet Boutique Ginza in the famous high rent district of Tokyo, Japan. Everyone who attended who was an existing Breguet owner received a special gift and a free watch servicing. This makes sense as the best potential customers for a brand are already existing ones.
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