what is the cheapest Tourbillon out there?

[Homicidal maniac]

Just curious that's all, what's the cheapest tourbillon on the market today?

[Justayellowbadge]

There's various chinese genuine ones available around the £400 mark.

Edited by Justayellowbadge on Monday 14th April 00:12

[Revs_Addiction]

How can you tell if a cheap one is actually a genuine tourbillon, and not simply a conventional lever escapement with an oscillating balance wheel?

I'd love to get one, but I'm not in a position at the moment to spash out on a high-end one. I'd be happy with a cheapie as I love the idea behind the movement, but as I've never seen one in the flesh I don't know what to look out for... Also how reliable are the cheap versions?

[dmcvicar]

i have been considering this...

http://www.bhi.co.uk/150Watch.html

now that is a cheap Tourbillon.

[sparkyhx]

that is cheap - I quite like the design of the face as well. although the screws on the cage look like standard B&Q jobbies and the back is just plain fugly.

I was going to say cheap chinese or buy second hand and save a fortune - but then a fortune is still relative when the watch is still 30k

Edited by sparkyhx on Monday 14th April 15:27

[cyberface]

Justayellowbadge said:

There's various chinese genuine ones available around the £400 mark.

Edited by Justayellowbadge on Monday 14th April 00:12

Like these ones, presumably - not sure about the 'RRP' BS but the actual price of the watches comes in at £500 or so.

Some of them are reasonably tasteful, the movements are reasonably finished and from the pics, they are proper tourbillons.

Cheap tourbillons

The funny thing is that they explain on the site the (actual truth!) that a tourbillon adds nothing to the accuracy of a wristwatch (it was invented by Breguet because pocket watches were often carried in an upright position most of the time) and that they shouldn't be considered as anything other than gratuitous mechanical frippery

Some of their watches look much better than the other Chinese ones out there though, not sure exactly where they stand given that their latest watch is $42,000 but the others are all $8,000 'reduced to' around $1000.

[sparkyhx]

cyberface said:

Justayellowbadge said:

There's various chinese genuine ones available around the £400 mark.

Edited by Justayellowbadge on Monday 14th April 00:12

Like these ones, presumably - not sure about the 'RRP' BS but the actual price of the watches comes in at £500 or so.

Some of them are reasonably tasteful, the movements are reasonably finished and from the pics, they are proper tourbillons.

Cheap tourbillons

The funny thing is that they explain on the site the (actual truth!) that a tourbillon adds nothing to the accuracy of a wristwatch (it was invented by Breguet because pocket watches were often carried in an upright position most of the time) and that they shouldn't be considered as anything other than gratuitous mechanical frippery

Some of their watches look much better than the other Chinese ones out there though, not sure exactly where they stand given that their latest watch is $42,000 but the others are all $8,000 'reduced to' around $1000.

The second one looks very similar to the 'horological institute' one.

[sb-1]

Now this is a cheap one!

http://www.alpha-watch.com/details.php?myid=167

[cyberface]

sb-1 said:

Now this is a cheap one!

http://www.alpha-watch.com/details.php?myid=167

Anyone who knows *anything* about watches will know that doesn't even look like a tourbillon. The interesting thing is how the Chinese have bust into the £60k+ market with cheap(ish) tourbillons, it was all the talk at Basel 2005 IIRC. Looks like they're producing products that have everything but the heritage, good luck to them.

[Homicidal maniac]

sb-1 said:

Now this is a cheap one!

http://www.alpha-watch.com/details.php?myid=167

[Mr E Driver]

dmcvicar said:

i have been considering this...

http://www.bhi.co.uk/150Watch.html

now that is a cheap Tourbillon.

Did you or anyone buy one of these?

[cyberface]

Mr E Driver said:

dmcvicar said:

i have been considering this...

http://www.bhi.co.uk/150Watch.html

now that is a cheap Tourbillon.

Did you or anyone buy one of these?

Yes, my girlfriend bought me the BHI power reserve model (somewhat Breguet-influenced in styling, shall I say ) for Christmas last year - I put a load of pictures up in a thread around the time

Not a daily wear by any stretch but a very nice looking watch indeed and keeps *very* good time. Very nicely made too.

[judas]

Picked up one of these myself recently, exactly the same power reserve version though not BHI branded. It was £300 on fleabay. Nicely put together and keeps much better time than all my other mechanical watches.

[dom9]

If these movements are so cheap and reliable now, why aren't more people using them, dressing them up or modifying them?

To be honest, none of those watches tickle my fancy, but I am sure that movement can be squeezed into plenty of nice cases.

[Ikemi]

To be honest, I have never been keen on the styling of the Chinese tourbillon watches ... I love the fact that the Chinese can create such a special movement and fit it inside a watch that doesn't require most of us to sell a kidney, but surely they could be creative and come up with some sportier, more modern designs?

Saying that, this one is a step in the right direction ... Not bad!

[LukeBird]

Ikemi said:

To be honest, I have never been keen on the styling of the Chinese tourbillon watches ... I love the fact that the Chinese can create such a special movement and fit it inside a watch that doesn't require most of us to sell a kidney, but surely they could be creative and come up with some sportier, more modern designs?

Completely agree.
I'm quite keen on buying one of them (as like many I'm never going to be able to afford one I really want!) but the BHI ones and most of the other 'cheap' ones I've seen have been very boring to look at.

I guess I'll just have to keep an eye out for something different!

[Harvey Mushman]

Could somebody explain to me in relatively simple terms(while i am not mechanically stupid i started to read an article in a book about the workings of Tourbillon watches and i was completely lost)the advantages etc of a Tourbillon movement over any other type of mechanical movement.
Thanks

[Mr E Driver]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourbillon will explain it very well

[Harvey Mushman]

Mr E Driver said:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourbillon will explain it very well

Ahh i see, thats alot clearer!

[10JH]

I remember reading an article in the GQ watch column a couple of year ago.

The title was something like 'Tourbillon for the masses'

It was about how an established brand (can't remember which) was producing one for about £40k.

Unreal!