Tourbillon-charged chronos

Having featured prominently in previous editions, the chronograph has lingered on the sidelines of this year’s Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH). Except, perhaps, at Piaget where it makes its debut as the first complication in the Altiplano collection, even setting a double record for thinness in its category: 4.65mm for the movement and 8.24mm with the case. But while the good old chrono by itself may have fallen behind in the popularity stakes, it hasn’t completely lost its appeal. Particularly when combined with a tourbillon regulator.

Some notable precedents

This is, of course, no ordinary pairing. A high-end chronograph worth its salt must incorporate a column wheel, which famously coordinates the various functions, and a vertical clutch which is a less power-hungry solution than its horizontal equivalent, and more efficient in pure chronometric terms. Add a tourbillon – a complication which, though contested by some, is intended to offset the effects of the Earth’s gravitational pull so as to reduce variations in rate – and the result is a devilishly precise calibre; a competition-quality timer with the additional fascination of the tourbillon’s rotating carriage. A must in Fine Watch realms.

Several Maisons have presented these two most important chronometric complications en tête-à-tête in the past, among them Breguet (Marine Tourbillon Chronograph), Bulgari (Daniel Roth Tourbillon Split-Seconds Chronograph), Cartier (Rotonde Tourbillon Monopusher Chronograph), Jaeger-LeCoultre (Master Grande Tradition Gyrotourbillon 3), Richard Mille (Tourbillon Split-Seconds Competition Chronograph RM 056) and Zenith (El Primero Tourbillon Chronograph). Another noteworthy example is De Bethune’s DB29 Maxichrono Tourbillon with its five co-axial hands, winner of the Chronograph Watch prize at the 2014 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève.

Unexpected coincidence

Chronograph plus tourbillon remains a relatively uncommon combination nonetheless. Despite this, Audemars Piguet, which is well-versed in the field, brought one to the SIHH 2015. Driven by the automatic Calibre 2897, a new development on the hand-wound version presented in 2010, the Royal Oak Offshore Tourbillon Chronograph, already glimpsed last year, confirms the Maison as a figure in ultra-precise watchmaking. Two other exhibitors at the fair, Vacheron Constantin and Montblanc, were on identical lines. Both were unveiling a new collection: Harmony for the former, Heritage Chronométrie for the latter. A more unexpected coincidence, both chose the chronograph tourbillon to spotlight these new lines. The Harmony collection comes in celebration of Vacheron Constantin’s 260th anniversary. With a cushion shape and a design inspired by one of the brand’s first wrist-chronographs, introduced in 1928, this Chronograph Tourbillon is equipped with the new in-house Calibre 32000. “So as to offer a clearer view of the fascinating choreography performed by the tourbillon at 12 o’clock, the developers of the Manufacture have made the carriage move in an unusual way. Instead of being driven by the pinion of the seconds wheel, the tourbillon carriage is set into motion by an intermediate wheel of the running seconds display. This configuration enables an extremely broad opening onto the upper plate, thus affording an even more spectacular view of the tourbillon.”

The same concern for aesthetic can be found at Montblanc which, in 2010, debuted its patented ExoTourbillon mechanism, whose balance is positioned outside the tourbillon carriage, which it developed and built entirely in the Manufacture in Villeret. Five years later, Montblanc has returned to this complication with its own automatic monopusher chronograph calibre, introduced as part of its Heritage Chronométrie collection. “A chronograph to measure the duration of brief intervals and a patented tourbillon construction for absolute precision,” says the brand in an impressive understatement. These are models which, bordering on grandes complications, impose a certain vision of time.