BHI 150 toubillon

[apotek]

Have just recieved my early Xmas present, the BHI tourbillon .I can`t seem to get a decent wrist shot but just to say it is a lovely watch and for about £390 delivered the cheapest and possibly most sensible way to scratch the tourbillon itch.
The watch is shiney stainless steel, a good size on the wrist,hands look good and the tourbillon is well made and an interesting little complication which catches the eye.
A decent alligator strap with a buckle will be an improvement but other than that a nice watch for the money.It will be a good talking point over xmas and will get a regular outing as everyday work wear or dress watch occasionally.sorry no pic but see BHI website its actually better in the flesh.

[cyberface]

I'm getting one for Christmas too - my girlfriend finally noticed my interest in watches but mine must be on the next batch to yours, as it's looking iffy as to whether I'm going to get it before Christmas or not. Probably Jan at this rate...

I'd appreciate a wrist shot if only to assess height / fit on wrist... the BHI pages look good but often a watch's height on the wrist is difficult to tell without it actually *being* on a wrist, so to speak.

I know the power reserve is the '151' tourbillon but I'm just checking - you've got the normal 150 tourbillon, not the 'power reserve' one? The 'power reserve' model is very much a Breguet style watch!

[apotek]

I am sure you will be pleased it`s about the same as a speedmaster pro but all face no bezell so looks bigger and the lugs slightly longer with screws on the side.I ordered only on the 27th oct so turnround time better than expected and so is the watch enjoy it.I thought the 150 would be better for my occasional wear

[cyberface]

apotek said:

I am sure you will be pleased it`s about the same as a speedmaster pro but all face no bezell so looks bigger and the lugs slightly longer with screws on the side.I ordered only on the 27th oct so turnround time better than expected and so is the watch enjoy it.I thought the 150 would be better for my occasional wear

Aha - Becky ordered late October as well, she was told that the order made the last batch of the year, but it was unlikely to turn up before Christmas

If yours is the same batch, then maybe she'll (and I will!) be in luck... mine's the other model though, if they run separate batches for the two models then your quick delivery may not be relevant for mine. I hope it is though!!

I know it's the cheaper Liaoning tourbillon movement, and it's Chinese, and it's the same one that the counterfeiters buy for their fake Breguet and AP tourbillons. But I don't care - Liaoning developed the thing themselves, they didn't steal the movement design and have as much right to it as the Swiss guys do theirs. Realistically, there's no point in me 'holding out' or 'saving up' for a tourbillon by any other manufacture - if I could, then I'd only be considering Breguet (he invented them, and I have a lovely Breguet flyback sports chrono in my collection), or JLC (the gyrotourbillon. Enough said...) - and there is no realistic chance of me being able to afford either. And even if I could... would I, or would I put the money elsewhere watch-wise?

Given the reasoning behind a tourbillon in a wristwatch being on shaky ground to begin with, AFAIAC it's a novelty, a mechanical marvel to look at, mesmerised, as the entire escapement rotates around its own axis. For this reason the oh-so-subtle Patek approach of hiding the tourbillon away makes no sense to me, neither other elite watches that do the same (hell, even Panerai's new in-house movements hide the tourbillon away, represented on the dial by a blue dot. That's a very expensive blue dot...).

It has to be a watch with a huge hole in the dial, so you can watch the tourbillon spinning away. And the BHI watch (and all others based on the Liaoning) deliver this in spades. The Chinese have dispensed with the BS about tourbillons making an appreciable improvement in accuracy when applied to wristwatches, and built them purely as kinetic art, which IMO is bang on.

Now a perpetual calendar, or a minute repeater - different story. But tourbillons and their more extravagant cousins (double axis tourbillons, double, triple and quadruple tourbillons, etc.) are IMO just there for the show - the kinetic art, the self-confident expression of the master watchmaker's enormous skill in both design and assembly. AFAIK, not even the Chinese tourbillons are assembled by robots... real watchmakers put the things together, and it's not easy. I may be corrected on that, but it's still 'real' IMO.

I'm looking forward to mine turning up! I'm also hoping that the bugbear of Chinese *proper* complications - the poor QA that leads to premature failure - will be somewhat ameliorated by the BHI putting their name to the watch. I would expect that the Institute would at least inspect every watch that comes in from China, and perhaps even pre-service it (I bet some of the BHI guys would want to do this just to service a tourbillon...). I'd expect the watch to be properly lubricated. Perhaps I'm being a bit optimistic or naive but I'm sure the BHI watch is just an OEM timepiece like those available from Million Smart Enterprises - so for the BHI to be happy putting their crest on the front, they'd definitely *have* to add some QC before the watch reaches the customer...

Does yours 'feel' finely assembled? You can normally tell the 'feel' through the winding crown - a well made, assembled and lubricated movement will feel very different to a clumsily thrown-together or unserviced movement...

[apotek]

That is a far more eloquent essay than I can run to but all I can say is it seems well made, winds nicely and has a very pleasant loudish tick.I have worn the watch all day today and keep looking at the tourbillon.I want to call it a gimmick but in a nice way except I think spending a shed load on a swiss one would probably feel painful very rapidly
regards John