Was that music the sound of George Daniels' ghost throwing up?
A tourbillon on a cheap movement - that's like strapping a supercharger to a Trabant.
Tourbillons are a funny thing - not technically a complication (at least in some circles) as they are just part of normal timekeeping, and are nearly useless in a wrist watch, yet coveted by many. I've worked on a Chinese one before a few years ago - not a full service just swapping some hands and regulating it. Not well made at all, but it ran and looked cool, which is all the owner cared about. I think he paid about a grand for it, which means it's pretty much disposable as a service on it is going to cost close to that.
Does anyone remember the uproar maybe 10 years ago when JLC came out with their Master Tourbillon model? In stainless, it ran something like $40k and aside from the cheap Chinese junk, any other Swiss model with a tourbillon was well into 6 figures. People said that JLC was hurting the tourbillon market by showing that they can be made for less than $100k. Now Tag makes one (or has it made for them more likely by a specialty shop - I don't follow the brand close enough to know for sure) for as little as $14k if I recall correctly.
Times have changed, and personally although they sort of look cool, I don't find them desirable at all.
And since this thread is worthless without a video (static shots of a tourbillon are not too exciting, especially the one in the OP), here's a video of a more interesting one I took at the JLC factory....Gyrotourbillon...
Sorry it's a bit shaky - taken with my camera through the eyepiece of a microscope...
Cheers, Al
