What Is a Tourbillon? How Watchmaking’s Rotating Cage Works
A tourbillon is often the first thing you notice on an open dial. Abraham-Louis Breguet had a more practical concern when he patented the mechanism in 1801. He wanted a pocket watch to keep a steadier rate in the positions it spent most of its life in. That problem explains how the cage works, why the flying tourbillon looks different and what makes the mechanism so demanding to produce.
