Tourbillon

Mechanical watches are complex and precise, and the difficulty of making mechanical watches with complex functions is even higher. At present, the tourbillon, perpetual calendar, minute repeater and chronograph are known as the four major complications in the watch manufacturing industry. And these complex functions, only a few watch factories can design and manufacture them. Not only the production quantity is small, the technical difficulty is high, and the production cycle is long, so the cost price remains high. Although tourbillon watches are expensive, their travel time is not as accurate as ordinary watches. Why? Today, the editor of the light luxury product will take a look with you, what is going on.


I believe everyone knows that in 1795, Mr. Breguet, the "father of the tourbillon", aimed at the difficulty of obtaining time accuracy in navigation and offset the influence of gravity on the weight of the balance wheel, in order to greatly improve the accuracy of the clock. Thus invented the tourbillon watch.


However, it is understood that well-known foreign watch laboratories have tested today's ordinary Swiss watches and tourbillon watches. The score of ordinary Swiss watches has reached 97.2, while the highest score of tourbillon watches is 93.9 and Carrousel's. The highest score is 92.7 points. From the data, we can find that the current travel time accuracy of tourbillon watches is no longer comparable to that of ordinary mechanical watches. But why has the tourbillon lost its original meaning of birth and is still sought after by everyone?


First of all, let's take a look at the structure of the tourbillon. It is also called "rotary escapement". It is composed of two parts: a fixed bracket and a rotating frame. The total weight of the whole device is 0.3 grams, and the frame weighs 0.1 grams, including the escape wheel, There are more than 70 parts in total, such as the wheel balance and the plywood screws. It is to combine the escape wheel, the pallet fork and the balance spring (collectively referred to as the "escapement speed control system") in a rotating frame, which generally rotates once in 1 minute (there are also 6 minutes or 4 minutes). The minute turns a week, but it is relatively rare). Through the process of frame rotation, the error of each position is averaged, which is what many media often report as "offsetting the error caused by the earth's gravity to the watch".


Because more than 200 years ago, there was no calibration instrument for mechanical clocks, and there was no automatic static balancer for the balance wheel. There was no way to accurately control the weight of the balance wheel, so the position error of the clock was very large. Therefore, the technology of the tourbillon is very practical. It not only improves the accuracy of travel time, but also has ingenious design ideas, which can be achieved by extraordinary people.


From the point of view of the production process, it belongs to the high and sophisticated level of craftsmanship today. At the same time, the clock itself is both a timing instrument and a work of art. As a micro-precision machine, it is not only known as a pleasant object for people, but also a symbol of the technical level of a watchmaking factory. This is the reason why the tourbillon has been influential since its invention. .


Because of this, the tourbillon has continued to innovate since its birth. In 1930, the German Lange watch factory produced the (second-generation tourbillon) flying tourbillon, canceling the fixed bracket of the flywheel. In 1993, Jiao Dayu from Hong Kong, China produced a (third-generation tourbillon) magical tourbillon, which eliminated the fixed bracket and rotating frame of the flywheel.


At the same time, there are also tourbillons that have continuously innovated other forms and structures. ① The three-dimensional tourbillon is like a birdcage structure. The outer frame rotates once per minute, while the inner frame rotates once in 24 seconds. The two axes are vertical, which makes people feel Incredible, three-dimensional planetary tourbillon. ②Double-axis tourbillon (inclined tourbillon) adds the balance wheel originally horizontal to the case and a second frame at 30 degrees. The outer ring frame rotates once every 4 minutes, and the inner ring is inclined at 30° The frame makes one revolution in 1 minute. ③Three-axis tourbillon, each axis is perpendicular to each other, and the three-axis are wrapped in layers of concentric circles, trying to make the tourbillon structure rotate at the maximum angle.


In general, although today's tourbillon has no original practical significance, its design is exquisite, the production is extremely difficult, and it has a sense of aesthetics and art. Constantly breaking through people's cognition, bringing visual impact, making it difficult to resist its charm

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