History of Tourbillion
The tourbillon is one of the most fascinating complications of mechanical horology. The tourbillon history dates back to the 18th century. The invention of the tourbillon stem from the days of the pocket watch and came about as a result of men's quest for improved accuracy of marine chronometers. The quest for accuracy was obvious and did not end there - after all this was a time of continual innovation and invention in horology, the start of the tourbillon history being just around the corner. As a chronometer would almost invariably rest in the same position, gravity was a directional constant affecting the behavior of the chronometer's balance wheel and balance spring. In fact, the influence of gravity on the accuracy of mechanical watches had worried watchmakers for centuries.
Different variations in the frequency of the balance wheel will occur as a result of changes in its center of gravity. For when a watch is in the vertical position, the earth's gravity either accelerates or slows the balance and the escapement (mechanism in the watch that regulates the speed of rotation of the wheels), causing a rate gain or loss. Even a watch in excellent condition that has been recently lubricated, serviced, and adjusted for temperature variations will still suffer the inevitable influence of the gravitational force of the Earth.
The great French watchmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet invented the tourbillon in 1795 and his invention became known officially only in 1801 when he applied for a patent. The first pocket watch equipped with a tourbillon mechanism was sold in 1805 but it was presented formally to the public during the Parisian show of French industrial products in 1806.
Unlike a wristwatch, a pocket watch worn in a vest will spend the majority of its time in a vertical position. Therefore, Breguet allegedly decided that, for the absolute best accuracy, some means of balancing out the effects of gravity in the various positions was needed. His ingenious solution placed the balance wheel, escape lever, and escape wheel in a cage, which then rotated a full 360 degrees making a complete revolution around itself, usually in a minute. In this way, the overall effects of gravity get balanced out, as the escapement of the movement never spends any significant time in one vertical position.