The purpose of the tourbillon is to compensate for the effects of gravity on a mechanical watch. When it is in a vertical position, a mechanical watch’s regulating organ – the balance, balance spring and escapement – undergoes imperceptible errors of rate with each oscillation, due to the effects of gravity.
By housing the regulating mechanism in a cage rotating on its own axis, generally once a minute, a variety of vertical positions results, which compensate for each other, producing a very constant average rate and extreme running precision.
Its manufacture, one of the most complex and delicate, necessitates a perfect mastery of watchmaking and its techniques.
