Audemars Piguet 2889 Instructions For Use Manual - page 7
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1. Intr
oduction
Eng
lis
h
The tourbillon
The most outstanding watchmakers have been striving
to improve timing accuracy since the second half of the
18
th
century. The desire to achieve an identical setting
for a timepiece in all positions is a major challenge. Under
the Earth’s pull, the tiniest variations in equilibrium
have a negative influence on the regulating part
(balance/balance-spring) when positioned vertically,
thus causing running differences in the watch.
In 1801 the watchmaker Abraham Louis Breguet
thought up a tourbillon regulating system that
balanced the running differences in all positions.
The operating principle has remained largely the same
to this day : the escapement parts (wheel, pallet and
balance) are held in a movable frame rather than being
fixed in the movement. By rotating on its axis every
minute with the escapement parts, this frame enables
all the parts to change position constantly, thereby
offsetting the running differences caused by the
effects of gravitation.
185 years later, in 1986, Audemars Piguet success-
fully f it ted this system for the f irst t ime into
a produc t ion wr is t w atch w ith an ultr a-thin
automatic mechanical movement. The Manufacture
in Le Brassus has since built on this success by
presenting many tourbillon models combined with
all watch complications.
The Manufacture, still one of the select few mastering
the secrets of this complication, offers more than
25 different tourbillon movements.