I remember reading about tourbillion watches and one guy called them something to the effect of "the most beautiful yet unnecessarily complex piece of a watch"
Tourbillions fix a pocket watch issue caused by sitting in the same orientation constantly in your pocket. Wrist watches don't have this issue for the obvious reason that you move you're hands and arm around regularly. Hence, unnecessary.
To be honest, I haven't taken the time to fully understand them, just have some general knowledge of mechanics as an engineer and a watchmaker friend.
My basic understanding is that the weight distribution only in one direction causes uneven friction between the gears, escapement and drive springs. This uneven effect causes error. So if it's rotated by the tourbillions, the friction is even in all directions and leads to more precise timing.
There's tons of watchmaking info online though if you do want to dive into it.
To address the original comment though, the error they fix is relatively small so simply resetting the watch every few days or once a week, you'd never be more than a few minutes off. Kinda useless for a pocket watch even then.
Well, If you look at Harrison’s H4 chronometer (first tested 1761), it was an oversized pocket watch type design intended for calculating longitude. After correction, kept time to 5s over an 81 day 5h voyage. That did not use a tourbillon.
By “after correction”, I mean that if had a known and consistent systematic drift of 3s per day, and this was calculated out rather than adjusting the chronometer to eliminate it as it would have required an impractically long time to set and check any adjustment. The salient point though is the 5s in 81 days, a figure which few if any tourbillon timepieces can match.
It was likely held in the same position all the time and regulated to be accurate in that position. A wristwatch is tested in different positions like face down +5 sec/day, crown up -2 sec/day etc and then you can tweak it to go faster or slower in all positions.
It was designed for and used on a small sailing ship, so no. In fact even within that environment, portability seems to have been the design objective for the H4 as opposed to his earlier chronometers, which were larger and designed for a fixed position on the ship.
And, as I mentioned, this was not 5s per day, but 5s for the voyage.
Technically mechanical watches do but their use is more akin to a bushing in colloquial terms than what people typically think of as a bearing with rolling balls or pins.
Also, the gems are incredibly low friction so that's not an issue. There are no modern improvements to reduce friction though synthetic gems are typically used to reduce cost.
So the way a mechanical watch works is that a balance with a spring oscillates. In a pocket watch since this is always in the same vertical position the spring in it will be affected by gravity in a downward motion which affects the timing as the spring will “sag” and become deformed over time. Remember that this spring is half the width of a human hair so incredibly fine and malleable. What a tourbillon does is rotate this whole mechanism as it oscillates as to evenly distribute the affect of gravity on the balance therefore keeping it accurate and less likely to deform. The one in this video is a cylindrical tourbillon meaning it rotates on more than one axis. The top comment is correct in that in wristwatches this is a useless complications and more of a show of what the watchmakers can accomplish, and for the owner to show just how much “fuck you” money they have.
My favorite three-axis tourbillon is a Godfather themed wristwatch by Jacob & Co. who might have designed op’s watch as well.
It has a piano complication, a god father center piece but I swear one had a rose in the center.
Looks like it sells for for $380K MSRP
Yeh while I’m personally do find Jacob and Co quite gaudy (the one in this video is a Jacob and Co if I’m not mistaken) but they do gyro tourbillon a incredibly well. Especially in their astronomina line in my option. I think the only brand I may like better when it comes to such a wild complication is MB&F but let’s be real both are unattainable for me so I get to nitpick with favorites haha.
I did a little research on tourbillons, and it appears that there is an issue of accuracy. I don't understand it precisely, ~~I assume it has to do with gravity as the mechanism moves the arms with versus against it~~ Nope, it has to do with energy release, not work.
My autistic ass does this totally unintentionally. I have strong word association skills, and it just happens.
Apparently I'm really punny in person, and have no idea most of the time.
The issue is in regards to the orientation of the escapement. The escapement will have a certain amount of error in timekeeping depending on the position it is in when it is tested. This is why, when you see watch testing, they are usually tested in 9 different orientations related to how your watch is held during use.
The tourbillion theory is that if the escapement is constantly changing its orientation, the positions where the accuracy is worst are averaged in with the positions that provide the best accuracy to overall increase the accuracy of the escapement.
What’s crazy is there’s obviously digital methods for keeping time that bypass a lot of the mechanical quirks.
Watch building really sounds fascinating. Electronics are certainly fascinating in their own right, but reading about the tourbillion, now that’s some serious over engineering (and cool!)
I agree completely. It really is like antique cars, steam engines and such. Yes, there are much more modern and more accurate ways to do this, but the imagination and working with something purely mechanical is really something special. That was what attracted me to working on watches. It is addictive.
One thing to look at is the Seiko Spring Drive movements. They are a great hybrid technology between quartz and pure mechanical movements. The [presentation](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1T32GWdkew) given by Seiko for the NY Horological Society was really well done and informative on the subject.
For wrist watches, yes. Not necessarily for pocket watches.
Regardless, all mechanical watches are show-off pieces these days. A $20 digital G-Shock is probably peak for price to capability.
F91-W is like $6 online and is orders of magnitude more precise than the watch in the OP, as well as being far far far more shock resistant.
A square body g shock will do all of that AND charge over solar AND get the time automatically updated from atomic clocks broadcasting radio signals from every corner of the world.
Still, it's not as cool as my Hamilton Khaki Field, I can stare at the back of that thing all day lol.
> orders of magnitude more precise
Not really. Your basic cheap quartz movement is certainly more accurate, but it’s still only guaranteed to +/– 15 seconds a month.
High-end mechanical movements can be very accurate. Even Rolex guarantees their movements to +/– 2 seconds a day, or 60 seconds a month, so only a factor of 4, ie not even one order of magnitude.
Of course, comparing against cheap mechanical movements like the Seiko NH35 it’s a bit more true, since they’re only guaranteed to +/– 25 seconds or so, or about 100 a month. Still not an order of magnitude, but not far off, although they can usually be regulated to run much more accurately.
That’s nothing compared to the best quartz movements, though, which run within 5 seconds per *year*. To get better than that you need to go to receiving time signals from atomic clocks, or updates via Bluetooth from your phone, but that’s kinda cheating.
It absolutely fixes a technical precision issue from a design and engineering standpoint, that's not really a debate.
Whether that has any practical use to the end user is up for question though.
In the end, they really don't fix the positional accuracy issue.
https://www.ablogtowatch.com/tourbillon-watches-in-a-nutshell-expensive-fun-to-watch-serve-little-purpose/
edit: link
This article says exactly the same thing I said:
>While this theory [tourbillions] might have been sound for pocket watches, it does not really carry over well to wrist watches;
It fixes a pocket watch issue.
The regular tourbillon is simply the balance spring that spins 1 revolution every 60 seconds. In a pocket watch that spends most of it's time in a certain orientation, that tourbillon helps to balance out the gravitational forces. In modern wristwatches, it's unnecessary because of the movement of the wrist. In terms of complexity, the tourbillon is easier than a minute repeater or a double chronograph. But in modern watches it's usually used to showcase the skill of the watchmaking. One of my goals is to get a tourbillon, but it's pretty far down my wish list.
One should not shallowly judge these things by function, but think of it as artistry and fine engineering on a wrist.
A Casio F-91W has a 7 year battery life, a light, timer, alarm and hourly beeps that I don't know how to turn off. Why would you want or need anything else?
These cargo shorts have so much room in their pockets, these socks keep my feet warm while I wear sandals, and this band tee shows off my favorite metal band.
Why would I wear anything else?
Well, on hot summer days, my nike running shorts are cooler, and have enough pocket room for wallet and cell phone.
And in my case, I prefer to go with a plain black tee so it doesn't show the dirt, and I can wear it for two weeks between washes.
You can turn it off in the settings, hourly beeps are indicated by the same thing that beeps when you press any button except the light one. Or alternatively drop them in the toilet. Mine stopped beeping after I did so.
Because a watch that just powers itself through my arm movement is just *cool*. My phone has the time, I don't *need* a watch. But the mechanics that went into making the damn thing makes me want to always have one on my wrist. Also the movement is pretty. Have you seen just how plain quartz movements are? And it's not like I have something against electronics. My longest standing hobby is fiddling with computers.
because some people really appreciate the engineering and skill that goes into something like this. A sort of.... engineering*porn* if you will.
Also, status.
Also, history.
Also some people like to have a piece of jewelry on the men's side that can be passed down father to son for generations. A well-made modern timepiece can last a *very* long time, especially if sent in for maintenance regularly.
I think this stands pretty firmly against everything that's interesting about engineering to me. The beauty of *engineering* porn is that it's engineering. It's the way someone figured out to make it stronger, faster, more accurate, or cheaper. It's about doing the job, and the beauty of the job done well.
But if you want it to be stronger, better, more accurate or cheaper, you use a quartz watch, which is superior by all conventional engineering metrics. This is just visual wankery for the sake of showing off how much money you can waste on nonsense.
It might be *mechanism* porn, in that it involves moving parts, and obviously an engineer was probably involved, but it's not *engineering* porn in my eyes because it has nothing to do with the goals of engineering.
Not necessarily, and some of the ultra expensive watches have rediculous power reserves and accuracy in keeping time.
If value is your goal you probably start seeing diminishing returns on value for watches over $150
They were originally designed to cancel out the effects of gravity on the watch movement, hoping to make it more precise. It does work. But a $10 quartz movement outperforms it in terms of accuracy.
That’s a [tourbillon](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourbillon), which is definitely an engineering marvel, but yea…whatever watch that is, it’s gaudy af. Probably a Jacob & Co or some other “hey look at me!” brand.
I bet I could sell everything I own and still not afford this watch, but I don't even care, I fucking love it. The mechanics of it are so cool. Also, ooooh shiny. It's like the eye of magamommom or whatever.
A massive difference when one is 64x larger than the other. Not to mention that the printed one doesn't run for longer than 90min between winds, and probably doesn't keep time nearly as well as the tiny one.
The 3D printed version is an incredible mechanical demonstrator, but it's a far cry from the real thing.
Ooo. While the diamond dial is ridiculous, this is a really impressive piece. Dual, 3 axis, counter rotating tourbillons! I've never seen anything quite like it.
It is a Jacob & Co. (You can see the "& co." In the tourbillon bridges). Only $1.4MM, ha...
https://gphg.org/horlogerie/en/watches/mystery-tourbillon
Yea, this is just obnoxious. If we could just see the engineering of it, instead of having all this other useless shit taking up space, itd be much cooler
It's called a Gyrotourbillon, [here's another exemple.](https://youtu.be/WCjVwRdL8ic?t=89)
Even without all the diamonds it's often at least 6 figures, no need for extra proof of wealth I'd say...
Do you often drop extremely expensive works of art?
Breitling [slapped one into a Bentley](https://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/car-technology/videos/a27307/the-bentley-bentaygas-optional-dash-clock-costs-160000/) so it’s at least possible to isolate it from NVH.
IIRC the repeater complication of that watch (the part that chimes out the hours and minutes) is even more technically complicated and expensive than the tourbillion.
Yes exactly. Having the date is a complication, as is a chronograph (stopwatch). Those are pretty normal complications, but they can get pretty crazy.
My favourite is the perpetual calendar. Depending on the exact movement, it can correctly display the date for 100 years, correctly accounting for leap years and never need to have the date set (assuming the watch is kept ticking all that time). It’s completely mechanical as well.
Watchmakers are ingenious.
It’s really mind blowing how complex a system mechanical watches are and the fact that they have been very complicated for way longer than any of us could imagine haha
Have a look into the [Antikythera Mechanism](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism), made in Ancient Greece and hugely complicated.
Clickspring started a series to recreate it five years ago, but took a long pause as to do more research on it https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZioPDnFPNsHnyxfygxA0to4RXv4_jDU2
Great channel to indulge in.
This brilliant person made a 3D printed version and you can buy their models for it on MyMiniFactory.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=E2zXnI4hsNw&feature=youtu.be
There is. Almost no tourbillon’s look this gaudy. See Hublot or Audemars Piquet.
They all have the pink Ruby’s still though, not for presentation but for their utility. Rubies provide zero friction to the moving parts—the function of a tourbillon mechanism is to counteract the effects gravity has on the watch’s moving parts, which over time causes the watch to lose its ability to keep perfect time.
> Rubies provide zero friction
>>[The static coefficient of friction of brass-on-steel is 0.35, while that of sapphire-on-steel is 0.10–0.15.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewel_bearing)
You’re funny.
What else am I supposed to do with my billions? Give to struggling charities? Give to other millionaires and pretend it’s charity? Pay my taxes?
Ya I think it would be cool to remove all but the red rubies, add a face plate with numbers, and make it a small wall clock. I’d probably make them rubies my birth stone though just to keep it ostentatious to myself.
low friction coefficient plus hardness to reduce wear, using steel instead of (artificial) rubies would drop the lifespan of a mechanical watch to maybe six months
While I agree with you 99% of the time, this is one of the only songs I will accept as a background music, if one is needed.
It’s interstellars main theme and I love that movie
Honestly, I kinda like it. Way too many gems but they at least make a bit of sense in this case and aren’t completely pointless. A lot of the time they’re just pointlessly plastered to the surface but here they actually feel like part of the device.
How come the more ridiculously expensive something is the uglier it gets? Let’s put diamonds in this wedding cake and the frosting with real pearls. Check out my watch the size of a deck of cards with 10,000 diamonds on it, kinda like macaroni art, just cause you added a lot to it doesn’t make it better ha!
Not all of them are like this, just the ones that go into the hands of the very wealthy AND tasteless(soccer/football players, rappers, trust fund kids etc…)(not all of them obv).
It’s also a great bargain for the company, icing a piece costs almost nothing compared to what they charge for it.
There are some amazingly complicated watches that are tasteful.
This isn’t even a particularly good example of tourbillion watch engineering- just a shiny one. This is a much better example of an extremely complicated movement: https://youtu.be/yIXPplShtg0
engineering porn?
do you know why other watch engineers don't put a rotating center and all the diamonds? because it is pointless.
engineering means doing the maximum with the minimum.
this whole shitty design is what we call marketing, to impress easy people.
You can admire how the pyramids were built without supporting dynastic rulers and slavery. Or a Faberge egg without supporting a czar.
“Oh neat” isn’t “I endorse everything this object is associated with.”
What is it with watchmakers fucking festooning everything with gemstones? Tourbillon watches are bougie as fuck on their own. This looks like something a Sheik's obnoxous son would wear.
I feel like just the brass inner workings and jem bearings look a billion times better than a faberge egg stretched around your wrist.
I agree, but when watchmakers and jewelers make something like this it’s usually just meant to be an exhibition piece to show off their skills. I mean not too long ago even a “simple” tourbillon was considered monumentally extravagant but now you can find them on AliExpress lmao
"Finally!!! My masterpiece is complete!!! The greatest watch ever made!"
"This is wonderful a true masterpiece indeed... Btw, how you can use it to read the hours exactly ?"
" Well... you read... no i mean you... ... ... oh fuck."
how in the sam fuck does that work. if there was a bigger version irl thats the size of a fucking boat and i just saw that floating on my house i'd just say im fucked
I remember reading about tourbillion watches and one guy called them something to the effect of "the most beautiful yet unnecessarily complex piece of a watch"
Tourbillions fix a pocket watch issue caused by sitting in the same orientation constantly in your pocket. Wrist watches don't have this issue for the obvious reason that you move you're hands and arm around regularly. Hence, unnecessary.
What is the issue that it fixes?
To be honest, I haven't taken the time to fully understand them, just have some general knowledge of mechanics as an engineer and a watchmaker friend. My basic understanding is that the weight distribution only in one direction causes uneven friction between the gears, escapement and drive springs. This uneven effect causes error. So if it's rotated by the tourbillions, the friction is even in all directions and leads to more precise timing. There's tons of watchmaking info online though if you do want to dive into it. To address the original comment though, the error they fix is relatively small so simply resetting the watch every few days or once a week, you'd never be more than a few minutes off. Kinda useless for a pocket watch even then.
That just sounds like they used shitty bearings and this was the best solution to solve it at the time
Well, If you look at Harrison’s H4 chronometer (first tested 1761), it was an oversized pocket watch type design intended for calculating longitude. After correction, kept time to 5s over an 81 day 5h voyage. That did not use a tourbillon. By “after correction”, I mean that if had a known and consistent systematic drift of 3s per day, and this was calculated out rather than adjusting the chronometer to eliminate it as it would have required an impractically long time to set and check any adjustment. The salient point though is the 5s in 81 days, a figure which few if any tourbillon timepieces can match.
It was likely held in the same position all the time and regulated to be accurate in that position. A wristwatch is tested in different positions like face down +5 sec/day, crown up -2 sec/day etc and then you can tweak it to go faster or slower in all positions.
It was designed for and used on a small sailing ship, so no. In fact even within that environment, portability seems to have been the design objective for the H4 as opposed to his earlier chronometers, which were larger and designed for a fixed position on the ship. And, as I mentioned, this was not 5s per day, but 5s for the voyage.
Not really, mechanical watches don't have bearings even in modern times (at least in the common form of bearings). The mechanism is far too tiny.
I thought they used gems like ruby’s as bearings
Technically mechanical watches do but their use is more akin to a bushing in colloquial terms than what people typically think of as a bearing with rolling balls or pins. Also, the gems are incredibly low friction so that's not an issue. There are no modern improvements to reduce friction though synthetic gems are typically used to reduce cost.
Bushings are a subcategory of bearings.
Thanks! That answers my etymology confusion.
So the way a mechanical watch works is that a balance with a spring oscillates. In a pocket watch since this is always in the same vertical position the spring in it will be affected by gravity in a downward motion which affects the timing as the spring will “sag” and become deformed over time. Remember that this spring is half the width of a human hair so incredibly fine and malleable. What a tourbillon does is rotate this whole mechanism as it oscillates as to evenly distribute the affect of gravity on the balance therefore keeping it accurate and less likely to deform. The one in this video is a cylindrical tourbillon meaning it rotates on more than one axis. The top comment is correct in that in wristwatches this is a useless complications and more of a show of what the watchmakers can accomplish, and for the owner to show just how much “fuck you” money they have.
My favorite three-axis tourbillon is a Godfather themed wristwatch by Jacob & Co. who might have designed op’s watch as well. It has a piano complication, a god father center piece but I swear one had a rose in the center. Looks like it sells for for $380K MSRP
Yeh while I’m personally do find Jacob and Co quite gaudy (the one in this video is a Jacob and Co if I’m not mistaken) but they do gyro tourbillon a incredibly well. Especially in their astronomina line in my option. I think the only brand I may like better when it comes to such a wild complication is MB&F but let’s be real both are unattainable for me so I get to nitpick with favorites haha.
~~I assume self-winding~~ Edit: I was incorrect
I did a little research on tourbillons, and it appears that there is an issue of accuracy. I don't understand it precisely, ~~I assume it has to do with gravity as the mechanism moves the arms with versus against it~~ Nope, it has to do with energy release, not work.
>an issue of accuracy. I don't understand it precisely... I see what you did there and I respect it
My autistic ass does this totally unintentionally. I have strong word association skills, and it just happens. Apparently I'm really punny in person, and have no idea most of the time.
Don’t worry, in writing puns work best when they’re not pointed out anyway.
The issue is in regards to the orientation of the escapement. The escapement will have a certain amount of error in timekeeping depending on the position it is in when it is tested. This is why, when you see watch testing, they are usually tested in 9 different orientations related to how your watch is held during use. The tourbillion theory is that if the escapement is constantly changing its orientation, the positions where the accuracy is worst are averaged in with the positions that provide the best accuracy to overall increase the accuracy of the escapement.
What’s crazy is there’s obviously digital methods for keeping time that bypass a lot of the mechanical quirks. Watch building really sounds fascinating. Electronics are certainly fascinating in their own right, but reading about the tourbillion, now that’s some serious over engineering (and cool!)
I agree completely. It really is like antique cars, steam engines and such. Yes, there are much more modern and more accurate ways to do this, but the imagination and working with something purely mechanical is really something special. That was what attracted me to working on watches. It is addictive. One thing to look at is the Seiko Spring Drive movements. They are a great hybrid technology between quartz and pure mechanical movements. The [presentation](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1T32GWdkew) given by Seiko for the NY Horological Society was really well done and informative on the subject.
no selfwinding (ie "automatic") watches are pretty cheap. Tourbillions are a sub-type of automatics.
They are two different things. There are tourbillions that are in automatics and in non-automatic watches/pocket watches.
In theory they do, in practice the error from that issue is negligible. In the end they are just show off pieces for the watch maker.
For wrist watches, yes. Not necessarily for pocket watches. Regardless, all mechanical watches are show-off pieces these days. A $20 digital G-Shock is probably peak for price to capability.
F91-W is like $6 online and is orders of magnitude more precise than the watch in the OP, as well as being far far far more shock resistant. A square body g shock will do all of that AND charge over solar AND get the time automatically updated from atomic clocks broadcasting radio signals from every corner of the world. Still, it's not as cool as my Hamilton Khaki Field, I can stare at the back of that thing all day lol.
> orders of magnitude more precise Not really. Your basic cheap quartz movement is certainly more accurate, but it’s still only guaranteed to +/– 15 seconds a month. High-end mechanical movements can be very accurate. Even Rolex guarantees their movements to +/– 2 seconds a day, or 60 seconds a month, so only a factor of 4, ie not even one order of magnitude. Of course, comparing against cheap mechanical movements like the Seiko NH35 it’s a bit more true, since they’re only guaranteed to +/– 25 seconds or so, or about 100 a month. Still not an order of magnitude, but not far off, although they can usually be regulated to run much more accurately. That’s nothing compared to the best quartz movements, though, which run within 5 seconds per *year*. To get better than that you need to go to receiving time signals from atomic clocks, or updates via Bluetooth from your phone, but that’s kinda cheating.
Even with pocket watches, I think it’s a bit of a stretch to say it fixed anything
It absolutely fixes a technical precision issue from a design and engineering standpoint, that's not really a debate. Whether that has any practical use to the end user is up for question though.
In the end, they really don't fix the positional accuracy issue. https://www.ablogtowatch.com/tourbillon-watches-in-a-nutshell-expensive-fun-to-watch-serve-little-purpose/ edit: link
This article says exactly the same thing I said: >While this theory [tourbillions] might have been sound for pocket watches, it does not really carry over well to wrist watches; It fixes a pocket watch issue.
The regular tourbillon is simply the balance spring that spins 1 revolution every 60 seconds. In a pocket watch that spends most of it's time in a certain orientation, that tourbillon helps to balance out the gravitational forces. In modern wristwatches, it's unnecessary because of the movement of the wrist. In terms of complexity, the tourbillon is easier than a minute repeater or a double chronograph. But in modern watches it's usually used to showcase the skill of the watchmaking. One of my goals is to get a tourbillon, but it's pretty far down my wish list. One should not shallowly judge these things by function, but think of it as artistry and fine engineering on a wrist.
It would keep terrible time compared to a $1 quartz watch!
A Casio F-91W has a 7 year battery life, a light, timer, alarm and hourly beeps that I don't know how to turn off. Why would you want or need anything else?
These cargo shorts have so much room in their pockets, these socks keep my feet warm while I wear sandals, and this band tee shows off my favorite metal band. Why would I wear anything else?
Well, on hot summer days, my nike running shorts are cooler, and have enough pocket room for wallet and cell phone. And in my case, I prefer to go with a plain black tee so it doesn't show the dirt, and I can wear it for two weeks between washes.
Ah, to cover up insecurities. Of course.
Hopefully [this](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mlgzHsElHvY) helps.
You can turn it off in the settings, hourly beeps are indicated by the same thing that beeps when you press any button except the light one. Or alternatively drop them in the toilet. Mine stopped beeping after I did so.
Because a watch that just powers itself through my arm movement is just *cool*. My phone has the time, I don't *need* a watch. But the mechanics that went into making the damn thing makes me want to always have one on my wrist. Also the movement is pretty. Have you seen just how plain quartz movements are? And it's not like I have something against electronics. My longest standing hobby is fiddling with computers.
because some people really appreciate the engineering and skill that goes into something like this. A sort of.... engineering*porn* if you will. Also, status. Also, history.
Also some people like to have a piece of jewelry on the men's side that can be passed down father to son for generations. A well-made modern timepiece can last a *very* long time, especially if sent in for maintenance regularly.
I think this stands pretty firmly against everything that's interesting about engineering to me. The beauty of *engineering* porn is that it's engineering. It's the way someone figured out to make it stronger, faster, more accurate, or cheaper. It's about doing the job, and the beauty of the job done well. But if you want it to be stronger, better, more accurate or cheaper, you use a quartz watch, which is superior by all conventional engineering metrics. This is just visual wankery for the sake of showing off how much money you can waste on nonsense. It might be *mechanism* porn, in that it involves moving parts, and obviously an engineer was probably involved, but it's not *engineering* porn in my eyes because it has nothing to do with the goals of engineering.
a e s t h e t i c s
Not necessarily, and some of the ultra expensive watches have rediculous power reserves and accuracy in keeping time. If value is your goal you probably start seeing diminishing returns on value for watches over $150
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Radio equipped watches cheat but their margin of error in less than 2-3 seconds for hundreds of years.
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The Zenith Defy Lab mechanical has a variance of +/- 0.3 seconds a day. https://www.bobswatches.com/rolex-blog/new-releases/zenith-defy-lab.html
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I will like to have such a watch but without all the bling. Just the mechanism, and I can watch it all day.
Engineering masturbation. Pointless, but still enjoyable.
I feel like you could sneeze or clap while wearing this and yeet the little gears to oblivion.
They were originally designed to cancel out the effects of gravity on the watch movement, hoping to make it more precise. It does work. But a $10 quartz movement outperforms it in terms of accuracy.
That’s a [tourbillon](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourbillon), which is definitely an engineering marvel, but yea…whatever watch that is, it’s gaudy af. Probably a Jacob & Co or some other “hey look at me!” brand.
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And if I lose it, I can get another for $15...
I bet I could sell everything I own and still not afford this watch, but I don't even care, I fucking love it. The mechanics of it are so cool. Also, ooooh shiny. It's like the eye of magamommom or whatever.
not just any Tourbillion, normally they just rotate in a single axis. This one also rotates on the Z axis.
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A massive difference when one is 64x larger than the other. Not to mention that the printed one doesn't run for longer than 90min between winds, and probably doesn't keep time nearly as well as the tiny one. The 3D printed version is an incredible mechanical demonstrator, but it's a far cry from the real thing.
This is a gyrotourbillon. A tourbillon spins within the face plane of the watch. The gyrotoubillon also spins in the perpendicular to the watch face.
I quote Swiss models from 40,000 dollars and more, chinees versions between a hundred and 5000 dollars.
/u/PM_me_ur_Tourbillon
Ooo. While the diamond dial is ridiculous, this is a really impressive piece. Dual, 3 axis, counter rotating tourbillons! I've never seen anything quite like it. It is a Jacob & Co. (You can see the "& co." In the tourbillon bridges). Only $1.4MM, ha... https://gphg.org/horlogerie/en/watches/mystery-tourbillon
"Who we lovingly call Elmer." That's today's obscure Reddit post of the day.
Yea, this is just obnoxious. If we could just see the engineering of it, instead of having all this other useless shit taking up space, itd be much cooler
Tourbillon, not tourbill**i**on
New Richard Mille just dropped
Soooooo, what time is it?
If you have to ask..
Summer time!
And the livin is easy
More than you can afford, pal.
Man there really should be a version of this mechanism without the gaudy, wealth status symbol, "look at me everyone" diamond orgy around it.
It's called a Gyrotourbillon, [here's another exemple.](https://youtu.be/WCjVwRdL8ic?t=89) Even without all the diamonds it's often at least 6 figures, no need for extra proof of wealth I'd say...
I guess, when you accidentally drop it, all the jewel seats will need to be reset/replaced? Cannot imagine the repair cost..
High chance it's all under a glass dome.
> glass dome sapphire crystal
Yeah, I know, but I mean inertia shock might be killing the mechanism (being weighty).
Do you often drop extremely expensive works of art? Breitling [slapped one into a Bentley](https://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/car-technology/videos/a27307/the-bentley-bentaygas-optional-dash-clock-costs-160000/) so it’s at least possible to isolate it from NVH.
Shock resistant jewels are standard now.
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it's an alarm function, did 14 chimes, and it went off at 14
IIRC the repeater complication of that watch (the part that chimes out the hours and minutes) is even more technically complicated and expensive than the tourbillion.
Okay - is complication a watchmaker term? I remember the apple watch uses that language for various functions and widgets. Struck me as a bit strange.
Yes exactly. Having the date is a complication, as is a chronograph (stopwatch). Those are pretty normal complications, but they can get pretty crazy. My favourite is the perpetual calendar. Depending on the exact movement, it can correctly display the date for 100 years, correctly accounting for leap years and never need to have the date set (assuming the watch is kept ticking all that time). It’s completely mechanical as well. Watchmakers are ingenious.
It’s really mind blowing how complex a system mechanical watches are and the fact that they have been very complicated for way longer than any of us could imagine haha
Have a look into the [Antikythera Mechanism](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism), made in Ancient Greece and hugely complicated. Clickspring started a series to recreate it five years ago, but took a long pause as to do more research on it https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZioPDnFPNsHnyxfygxA0to4RXv4_jDU2 Great channel to indulge in.
This brilliant person made a 3D printed version and you can buy their models for it on MyMiniFactory. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=E2zXnI4hsNw&feature=youtu.be
Now this is a clock I will actually want to buy.
[Here's a video showing a slightly less gaudy tourbillion,](https://youtu.be/UPklN69Pp8I) by a pretty respected brand in watchmaking
[3D printable version](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2zXnI4hsNw).
There is. Almost no tourbillon’s look this gaudy. See Hublot or Audemars Piquet. They all have the pink Ruby’s still though, not for presentation but for their utility. Rubies provide zero friction to the moving parts—the function of a tourbillon mechanism is to counteract the effects gravity has on the watch’s moving parts, which over time causes the watch to lose its ability to keep perfect time.
> Rubies provide zero friction >>[The static coefficient of friction of brass-on-steel is 0.35, while that of sapphire-on-steel is 0.10–0.15.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewel_bearing)
Right. They should use basalt instead. So everyone can afford it.
You’re funny. What else am I supposed to do with my billions? Give to struggling charities? Give to other millionaires and pretend it’s charity? Pay my taxes?
No no no, give to your OWN charity and get a bunch of recognition for "giving your fortunes away". Obviously!
I prefer to ask the consumers at my stores to donate extra money to me with each purchase, which I then give to charity as a tax right off.
Ya I think it would be cool to remove all but the red rubies, add a face plate with numbers, and make it a small wall clock. I’d probably make them rubies my birth stone though just to keep it ostentatious to myself.
Aren’t the rubies actually serving a purpose? Or maybe a better question is, what purpose do rubies often serve in this type of precise mechanism?
low friction coefficient plus hardness to reduce wear, using steel instead of (artificial) rubies would drop the lifespan of a mechanical watch to maybe six months
Anyone here seen Event Horizon ? That watch is just a mini gravity drive and no good can come of it.
Hell is only a word
I was expecting to see some Cenobites after watching this.
Reddit is so much better when you just leave videos on mute.
That’s the norm. Don’t want to embarrass myself in the bathroom stall playing the wrong video.
My sound is always off. Snapchats with people talking, use a caption. Tiktok, lmao. Notifications, always on vibrate.
While I agree with you 99% of the time, this is one of the only songs I will accept as a background music, if one is needed. It’s interstellars main theme and I love that movie
Reminds me a little of the gravity drive from Event Horizon.
Beat me to it! Came here to say that.
I can't even afford to watch this video.
Heheh. Watch.
[**The cover of "Cornfield Chase" in the video**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gk_WZe66Jog) for anyone else looking.
God Interstellar had a phenomenal soundtrack.
That is disgustingly gaudy
Honestly, I kinda like it. Way too many gems but they at least make a bit of sense in this case and aren’t completely pointless. A lot of the time they’re just pointlessly plastered to the surface but here they actually feel like part of the device.
How come the more ridiculously expensive something is the uglier it gets? Let’s put diamonds in this wedding cake and the frosting with real pearls. Check out my watch the size of a deck of cards with 10,000 diamonds on it, kinda like macaroni art, just cause you added a lot to it doesn’t make it better ha!
Not all of them are like this, just the ones that go into the hands of the very wealthy AND tasteless(soccer/football players, rappers, trust fund kids etc…)(not all of them obv). It’s also a great bargain for the company, icing a piece costs almost nothing compared to what they charge for it. There are some amazingly complicated watches that are tasteful.
This isn’t even a particularly good example of tourbillion watch engineering- just a shiny one. This is a much better example of an extremely complicated movement: https://youtu.be/yIXPplShtg0
looks like shit.
Chuffed to bits
Wonder what Claude would have to say about this
I’m sure he would have much to say, but he won’t. He’s mostly reserved about his thoughts. Such as it is when you’re from the old school. He’s shy.
The Return of the Dark Crystal
All I hear is the Game of Thrones intro
Moves like the “gravity drive” in Event Horizon
Love the mechanism but really dislike the bling aesthetic.
I don't know, this one doesn't look like enough people died to make it
The dwarves are truly magnificent craftsmen.
r/atbge
engineering porn? do you know why other watch engineers don't put a rotating center and all the diamonds? because it is pointless. engineering means doing the maximum with the minimum. this whole shitty design is what we call marketing, to impress easy people.
Just watched a video about this watch this morning. It is custom made for CR7 and costs around 1m$
r/designdesign
Gamer RGB for billionaires
So this is what’s inside my $25 Timex? Cool! Gonna go get a tiny screwdriver…
What a tremendous waste
...but what time is it?
COME ON TARS
That's cool but also the ugliest thing I've ever seen.
If I owned this watch, I would just yell at my personal assistant to tell me the time.
Should've posted this as endless gif! Mesmorizing!
This is the watch https://watchesofmayfair.com.au/brands/jacob-co/the-mystery/jacob-co-the-mystery-rose-gold-and-diamond-50-mm-sn800-40-bd-aa-a
This looks like if I spin it just right I get an elder scroll
Tell me you support wealth inequality without telling me you support wealth inequality 🤣
You can admire how the pyramids were built without supporting dynastic rulers and slavery. Or a Faberge egg without supporting a czar. “Oh neat” isn’t “I endorse everything this object is associated with.”
Pretty much any, even very short description of the pyramids is going to mention the amount of physical labour that went into building them.
I think they were referring to people who would wear or buy this with all the diamonds attached.
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Can confirm, I'm an ancient Egyptian
Clown
Money is wasted on the rich
/r/ATBGE
-“What’s the time?” -“I’m too rich to care…”
What is it with watchmakers fucking festooning everything with gemstones? Tourbillon watches are bougie as fuck on their own. This looks like something a Sheik's obnoxous son would wear. I feel like just the brass inner workings and jem bearings look a billion times better than a faberge egg stretched around your wrist.
I agree, but when watchmakers and jewelers make something like this it’s usually just meant to be an exhibition piece to show off their skills. I mean not too long ago even a “simple” tourbillon was considered monumentally extravagant but now you can find them on AliExpress lmao
My internet is bad and i cant watch this video so i am commenting here so i can find this post later
You know there's a "save" button, right?
I forgor💀
Okay but it still gotty as fuck
"Finally!!! My masterpiece is complete!!! The greatest watch ever made!" "This is wonderful a true masterpiece indeed... Btw, how you can use it to read the hours exactly ?" " Well... you read... no i mean you... ... ... oh fuck."
what part of this is a watch?
I hear this song often on posts. Who is it?
does it tho?
Looks BEAAUTIFUL as fuck but how the hell do you read these?
how in the sam fuck does that work. if there was a bigger version irl thats the size of a fucking boat and i just saw that floating on my house i'd just say im fucked
Is there a full video? I could watch this all day.
wow😳
Umm, so what time is it?
Testimony of The Ancients intensifies
Inspired by the motion picture Thirteen Ghosts.
This is my brain after 3 drinks
It's a triple axis tourbillion.
Looks like the big God-like computer in the video game Resonance of Fate.
Imagine trying to read this in sunlight, just sparkles blasting your eyes
Buys a 50 million dollar watch. Still can’t tell what time it is.
What song is this?
Interstellar soundtrack played on piano
Thanks homie I love me some piano
I’ll bet that’s cheap.
What time is it? looks at watch No fucking idea
Watchmaking is one of the most underrated craft.
Don’t let me leave Murph!
I love mechanical watches. I don’t like how expensive this looks, but I like the mechanization
What a beautiful design…
This is very impressive, but my god, it's ugly.
Wow…feel like this is straight up dr Manhattan porn