Tourbillon Escapement Rendering...

[W.P. Rayner]

Here is my latest... rendering generated in Keyshot 3 Pro from Solidworks drawing (with minor modifications) by banyuanxui.  The Tourbillon, developed ca. 1795 by French-Swiss watchmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet, puts the escapement (escape wheel with its pallet fork) and the balance wheel into a cage that revolves on the fourth wheel (the wheel that turns the second hand one revolution per minute). This means that the balance wheel is carried in a 360-degree circle each minute, eliminating variations in timekeeping rate that are caused by changes in gravity's pull on the balance wheel, balance spring and pallet fork depending upon the axis position of the watch. The concept is simple but it is one of the most difficult escapement systems to make and get right. They are amazing mechanisms given they are small enough to fit within a typical high-end watch case. This is a single-axis Tourbillon. There are more complex multiple-axis versions such as the Gyrotourbillon produced by Jaeger LeCoultre which sells for a cool $400,000... A larger view can be seen on my site at Tourbillon Watch Escapement.



Paul

[Ray Dunakin]

A beautiful piece of engineering, beautifully rendered!

And I just spent the past 30 minutes on wikipedia reading about escapements and tourbillons, with a side trip into the "quartz crisis".

[SandiaPaul]

OK you are insane. In a good way!
Funny as watchmaking is another interest of mine. I think if I had know about it in my 20's that is where I would have gone.

Really superb work Paul...I really need to fire up Keyshot and learn it!

Paul

[W.P. Rayner]

Thanks guys... my wife would probably agree with you Paul...

Here's a video of a single-axis Tourbillon in motion...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqWF4zk-yaI&feature=fvwp

And another of Jaeger-LeCoultre's GyroTourbillon (mind boggling...)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTj__XKPl5M

I'm working on a drawing of this one, so yes, insane would be a good assessment... 

Paul

[nk]

Beautiful rendering of a tourbillon. I would love the JLC tourbillon, or better yet a Patek Phillippe one with a 10 day power reserve (I am a bit of a WIS...watch idiot savant). Maybe, with this you could convince Swatch to reisue their affordable tourbillon...