SonicTheHedgehog2
16450
317
21
The tourbillion was developed in the 1800s for pocket watches. Pocket watches were worn in waist pockets, constantly in a vertical position. Gravity pulled on the balance and escapement wheel causing time errors. The tourbillion aimed to keep the mechanism in constant rotation to average out the errors.
In the mid 1900s swiss watchmakers started adding them to wrist watches. Wrist watches naturally change position as you move your arm, so the benefit is up for debate. Most watch folks just like them for how they look rather than for any accuracy gains.
Swiss tourbillions go for several thousand dollars (on the low end), but Chinese watchmaker Seagull recently developed a tourbillion that can be had for around $600
OtisTDrunk
BlazeDragon777
Watch out.
BaddyOneShoe
At least the extra money goes towards something that was incredibly difficult to engineer and build. People spend insane money on designer handbags and shoes that were built by sweatshop kids.
SonicTheHedgehog2
That's a good point
Macetheace50
I use my Timex everyday.
Best watch I got at 10 years of age.
SadOldWhiner
What a lovely ad for a chinese watch.
SonicTheHedgehog2
+300 social credits
LeifHietala
"Tourbillon" means "whirlwind. " ostensibly it's to make the watch even more accurate, but what it really is, is a flex.
FunnyPlatypus
Dr. Manhattan’s Dad threw away his watch making tools…
martineb72
I do like to see all the moving parts. If I had the money, I would definitely get something like it. In the early 90s I bought a watch that I could see all the moving parts. I think it was made by Fossil. It was fairly cheap($70) and broke quite easily.
somebackup
Wouldn't surprise me if there were some fake mechanical watches
cousteau
Like, battery + quartz oscillator + tiny motor to make it look like it a turbillon? Yeah probably
[deleted]
[deleted]
FirePrinceZuzu
Yes.
SonicTheHedgehog2
Yes.
Bastiroid
Sorry to burst this bubble blir tourbillon not expensive anymore and have not been for years. The reason why Swiss watches that have a tourbillon in them are expensive is not the tourbillon but because everything in the watch is handmade.
And the reason seagull can make them for 600 bucks is because nothing is handmade.
Tourbillons inside watches are there for show not because they do anything special.
SonicTheHedgehog2
It costs nothing to not be a condescending asshole
2Soon4Baboon
That's cool. My phone also shows me the collapse of society in real time.
daguq
I believe pocket watches were mostly worn in waistcoat pockets.
Farfel8088
Waistcoat pockets they could be stem up, stem left or stem right and at night they could be face up or down. Watches adjusted for 5 positions made a compromise adjustment so that they would average out to acceptable accuracy. The tourbillion operated to ensure that the balance wheel worked in all positions over time. Unfortunately, it was invented about the time pocket watches went out of style so now it is just a fancy widget that proves you can spend a stupid amount of money on a watch.
idiotsonfire
"Oh, you want a watch that will last 20 years? Best I can do is $189,000."
Xenarion
I definitely do like the way they look.
Raoul97533
and they tell time just the same as the 10 bucks micky mouse watch I got as a kid.
CallMeCourierSix
Not quite. Truly cheap watches have pretty shitty accuracy.
graaghles
Me personally? I have a phone with an internet connection that is constantly updated by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures, which gets it's data from clock labs around the world running ultra-accurate atomic clocks.
LazyUsername99
It amazes me how some expensive, outdated hobbies on Imgur get constantly praised (Blacksmithing springs to mind, but also woodworking, miniatures, model building, etc.) but for anything that Imgur associates with "Rich people bad" gets shit on as a useless waste of money. I'm a blue collar mechanic. I also have a half dozen mechanical watches. Why? Because I think mechanical watches and other things that operate off of gears, springs and ingenuity instead of computer chips are fucking cool.
Kbantar
Watches are cool, but you're comparing a machine made product with artistic hobbies. Still, spring power is really neat. I love clockpunk as a very niche setting, for example.
InfiniteBirds
It can be an artistic hobby if youre one of those people who assembles their own mechanism and picks out the faces/hands/style etc.
sometimesarobot
Less hypnotic
martineb72
No they are much worse than a simple quartz watch.
SonicTheHedgehog2
Your Micky mouse watch tells time better
PanNonOpticon
My Mickey Mouse watch is mechanical.
PanNonOpticon
And there is a Rolex Mickey Mouse watch. Which I don't have.
CyberHexx
But it isn't a rube Goldberg machine made of precious metals so an engineer can show off how big his weaponized autism is. Lol
LoudBirb
It's jewelry. Specifically, it's one of the few pieces of jewelry that is widely socially acceptable for men to wear. Some, certainly, use it as a way to show off wealth. Others buy/wear it because they genuinely think the piece is beautiful.
The reasons are as varied and individual as the reasons women wear bracelets, earrings, necklaces, or rings.
CyberHexx
The reason the Mickey Mouse watch keeps more accurate time is because it's a much simpler design, without long trails of gears which introduces lag, and the gears are made of steel, not gold and silver which have very different vibration and flex properties which also introduce inaccuracies. A Rolex isn't $100k because it's accurate, but because of who made it and how showy they wanted to be. You're correct, It's jewellery first and a timepiece second.
Ivain
Yeah, quartz watches basically killed mechanical watches as anything other than a luxury and/or novelty product, the only advantage to mechanical watches is that they don't need any electricity to work
[deleted]
[deleted]
76000BatteryLlamas
Uhhh second hands on analog watches exist
Sebastopol140
...and solar-powered watches exist.
thotterpop
https://media2.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPWE1NzM3M2U1anIyOHZhdGlpN3NyNzhhZW04ZDd4d3Znem1jYjV5NzIwaTU0NWhlcCZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/l46CsIbvQxShMXW8w/200w.webp
Cornflakes91
also movement powered ones
MacroMoray
Which wind mechanical watches
Cornflakes91
or electronic ones
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_quartz
lightfoot2
Much like spending billions to make "AI" a tiny bit better, these complications look nice but do little to improve accuracy.
VegaJuniper
Accuracy isn't really the point. The cheapest quartz watch is probably more accurate than the $10k Rolex.
SenseAmidMadnessWitAmidstFolly
Let’s not compare the work of real human artisans and engineers striving to make something beautiful to the heinous scrabbling of morally bankrupt technocrats trying to fleece the entire world with their new line of emperor clothes.
lightfoot2
Well, if you know the history of watches all sorts of new things caused plenty of hype in the watch market. My fave was anti magnetic watches and how bent out of shape everyone got over it.
DdCno1
The problem with expensive watches is that they are exclusively worn by rich idiots. Nothing would be lost to the world if both didn't exist.
lightfoot2
Expensive watches can be bought and worn by anyone. A Hamilton electric though identifies a true watchmaker.
LazyUsername99
There are way more hobbyists that enjoy watches than just "Rich idiots" but I'm assuming your knowledge of watches spans the Casio section at Walmart and the gaudy diamond encrusted bling on a rap video. There's literally no difference between somebody appreciating a watch movement and spending $600 on it, versus someone buying $600 worth of warhammer plastic or commissioning a $600 piece of art. People are allowed to spend money on things that bring them joy.
DdCno1
I'm not talking about watches costing hundreds, but watches costing hundreds of thousands.
LazyUsername99
You’re doing it on a post about a watch that costs $600.