tourbillons....?

[whoever]

short and probably ignorant question, but whatever, if you don't ask you'll never learn, right? :

is the difference between "real tourbillon" watches and "fake tourbillons", that the fake one isn't turning?

[crystalcranium]

short and probably ignorant question, but whatever, if you don't ask you'll never learn, right? :

is the difference between "real tourbillon" watches and "fake tourbillons", that the fake one isn't turning?

It's like the difference between the gasoline motor that runs your string trimmer and the V-8 in your Mercedes. The faux tourbis are nothing more than a dial opening that display the balance wheel in a standard watch. A tourbillon is one of the most difficult pieces of micro machinery to produce and, simply put, is a mechanical arrangement that rotates the escapement/balance wheel apparatus as it oscillates.

[whoever]

ha, you mean my 1.4 liter Citro

[yowza]

I think the analogy is closer to a 1.4 liter Citro

[Jkay]

Fake tourby watches are also known as "open heart" designs. The balance assembly of a normal watch is simply shown through a hole in the dial of the watch. It has no actual tourby parts.

An actual tourbillion balance assembly either spins in 3 dimensions in addition to rotating normally .. OR has a little "moon" satellite which orbits it (the pallate stones and escape wheel)

In the photo above my post, here, you can see this little "full moon" orbiting the genuine tourbillion at the 9 o'clock position of the balance wheel (9 o''clock of the photo, not the watch). It looks like a spiked wheel.

So, to re-iterate, a fake tourbillion watch is simply just a normal watch with a hole in the dial so you can see the balance wheel move.

[mbjoer]

Here is a gen Chinese tourbillon for about $870.

Funny one that one. The tourbi may be real, but the moonphase is not...

Edited September 4, 2010 by mbjoer

[whoever]

i always wonder how it looks like on my wrist...not too pretentious??

Thanks for the answers and the great pic!

[mas6002mi]

i did hear that most of the rep tourby's have severe reliability issues......