What does tourbillon mean

Many collectors would consider their tourbillon watches to be some of their most prized possessions. So to answer the question: Only get one if you think you can handle it. They aren't cheap. They start at around a low-5 figure price tag and they can go into the millions depending on the manufacturer, model, and also depending on if it's a new or pre-owned tourbillon watch.

A tourbillon watch is by definition a serious luxury item. You may be able to find a new one from some cheaper and much lower market, non-luxury brands but none that any serious watch collector would ever recommend. For the most part, tourbillons are highly associated with Swiss watches as they were invented by a Swiss watchmaker and are to this day predominantly manufactured in Switzerland.

There are other countries though that produce them but few that can make them anywhere near as well as the way the Swiss watchmakers. There are, however, a few exceptions. Possibly the only country that produced high-quality tourbillons is Saxon-German watchmakers in the watchmaking town south of Dresden called Glashutte, Germany. Many Swiss watchmakers make tourbillon movements, and they are usually quite costly.

However, there are some that are more affordable than others. Recently, TAG Heuer released the Carrera 02T Tourbillon Chronograph which is considered to be the most affordable high-quality, in-house tourbillon from a respected Swiss watch brand. Click here to read the review or watch our in-house video demo below to see it in action. These are two watches from highly respected watchmakers that manufacture excellent tourbillons. Contact our luxury watches experts.

Retrieve it. If by any chance you spot an inappropriate image within your search results please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly. Term » Definition. Word in Definition. Wiktionary 0. Freebase 0.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary 0. Military Dictionary and Gazetteer 0. How to pronounce tourbillon? Alex US English. David US English. Mark US English. Daniel British. Get Word of the Day delivered to your inbox! Sign Up. Style: MLA. More from Merriam-Webster on tourbillion Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for tourbillion. Get Word of the Day daily email!

Test Your Vocabulary. Test your vocabulary with our question quiz! Love words? Auctions Record Alert! An Early Speedmaster Ref. Welcome to our new mailbag column, where we answer common and uncommon watch questions without judgment.

Time doesn't stop just because you're not wearing the watch. Would you expect your car to start up instantly and run like a top if you left it in the garage for a year? Two years? Watches are machines. They'll wear like any other machine; they require maintenance even if you use them on a regular basis.

And especially if you don't. Lubricants deteriorate over time, as do gaskets. But the biggest place you'll see a loss of performance is in the escapement.

Most watches have a lever escapement, which needs oil to run properly. The other problem with leaving a watch alone for too long comes in if you decide to wear it regularly again.

Gears in a watch running in dry pivots will run fine until they don't, and by the time you notice problems, the cumulative wear may leave you stuck with an expensive repair bill — or worse, if it's a vintage watch, with hard-to-find parts.