A marine tourbillon from Breguet

Historic watchmaker Breguet has unveiled the tourbillon – the most emblematic of the Breguet founder’s inventions – as a new model within the Marine collection with its Marine Tourbillon 5577, in two editions

The tourbillon was officially born on June 26, 1801, from the scientific and horologically inclined mind of Abraham-Louis Breguet. His starting point was the observation that Earth’s gravity was the enemy of watch movements’ regularity, since back then timepieces were mainly worn vertically along the body. The effect of gravity caused variations in rate. To solve this problem of terrestrial gravity, Abraham-Louis Breguet came up with the idea of installing the entire escapement inside a mobile carriage performing one complete rotation per minute. The errors were thus regularly reproduced and cancelled each other out. In addition, the perpetual change in the balance pivots’ point of contact in their jewelled bearings ensured better lubrication. This reasoning marked the invention of the tourbillon. More than 220 years later, this watchmaking mechanism continues to stand out as one of the most fascinating horological creations to which Breguet pays tribute by including it in its Marine collection.

The 42.5 mm case houses the self-winding Calibre 581, an ultra-thin movement just 3 mm thick and comprising 330 components. This thinness is made possible by the use of a peripheral rotor. The balance beats at a frequency of 4 Hertz and has an impressive power reserve of 80 hours. To ensure it incorporates all the latest innovations, the calibre is fitted with a carriage in titanium and balance-spring in silicon. This material has multiple properties including resistance to both corrosion and wear, along with insensitivity to the influence of magnetic fields. The finishing of the movement is revealed through the sapphire case-back. The barrel drum bears a compass rose. Various decorations typical of the Marine line are also present, including a straight ribbed motif.

The sunburst dial of the new 5577 references is slate-grey coloured for the rose gold version and navy blue for the platinum model. The tourbillon located at 5 o’clock catches the eye with its cage rotating in 60 seconds. The chapter ring has been off-centred so as to highlight this mechanism, while, the hour-markers and the open-tipped gold Breguet hands are luminescent.