Breguet Tourbillon pocket watch No. 1188

The Tourbillon is a rotating mechanism intended to cancel out the effects of gravity, an invention patented by Abraham-Louis Breguet in 1801. In a gold case and with an enameled dial, this Breguet Tourbillon pocket watch from the Breguet Museum collection is a work of art whose aesthetic matches its technological brilliance. It was sold to Antonio Pascual de Bourbon, Infante of Spain, in 1808. A new dial with Turkish numerals fitted in 1841 suggests that the watch had then passed into the hands of an owner from the Ottoman Empire. This tourbillon rotates once in four-minutes rotation, with constant small seconds at 10 o'clock and an independent stop-seconds at 2 o'clock. This piece is fitted with an oil-free natural-impulse escapement (échappement naturel) with free-sprung Breguet overcoil spring. The House of Breguet has been preserving its founder’s heritage with great care. The pocket watch had not been dismantled in excess of ninety years, despite this, when wound, the watch immediately came to life.