Letter from the Publisher

above from top to bottom
Harry Winston, Opus 6
Greubel Forsey, Double Tourbillon Technique
Greubel Forsey, Invention Piece 3
top right
Jaeger-LeCoultre, Gyrotourbillon 2
right center
Girard-Perregaux, InnoVision
right
Thomas Prescher, InnoVision
farright
Panerai, Radiomir Tourbillon GMT
Ceramica Lo Scienzato
• 170 Grand Complications, Vol. VII
THE THIRD DIMENSION
Recent years have also witnessed
the appearance of a new generation
of tourbillons equipped with several
simultaneous rotations axes and/
or turning at speeds different
from the classic one revolution
per minute. The aim is to offer
constructions more suitable to
wristwatches and to enhance their
precision, particularly by multiplying
the spatial positions adopted by
the balance-and-spring assembly. The
Gyrotourbillon 1 by Jaeger-LeCoultre features
two nested carriages: an outer carriage spins on
its axis in 60 seconds, while the inner carriage, set at a
90° angle in relation to the first, rotates in 17.75 seconds.
This spherical tourbillon concept was back in the spotlight
in 2008 on the Gyrotourbillon 2, this time in the Reverso
case. The Bi-axial Tourbillon by Girard-Perregaux also combines
two concentric carriages, spinning on their respective axes in
45 seconds and one minute and fifteen seconds respectively.
A similar double carriage principle (but with a 30° angle)
inspired the Opus 6 by Harry Winston, developed by Stephen
Greubel and Robert Forsey. Under their own Greubel Forsey
brand name, these two watchmakers have also developed
several innovative constructions playing on angles and
speeds of rotation. The Double Tourbillon 30°, reinterpreted
in 2009 in the amazingly transparent Double Tourbillon
Technique model, has an inner carriage rotating in one
minute and an outer carriage spinning in four minutes.O