The tourbillon, invented over 200 years ago by the brilliant watchmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet in order to improve the precision of pocket watches, is still considered the pinnacle of precision watchmaking. The filigree mechanism, with its balance and escapement permanently rotating in a cage to defy the influence of gravity, literally makes the hearts of aficionados and connoisseurs beats faster, as the choreography of the itsy-bitsy rotating mechanism is almost hypnotizing and captivates the observer. This rings especially true for the flying tourbillon, a particularly refined form that Alfred Helwig, a master watchmaker and teacher at the Glashütte School of Watchmaking, developed around 1920 in the famous German watch town. Thanks to the special bearing with just one bridge, it creates the impression of flying above the dial.
With gyroscopic designs and creations mounted on multiple axes, a few long-established and modern luxury manufacturers, as well as independent watchmakers, have taken the “whirlwind,” as the tourbillon is affectionately called by enthusiasts, to literally new dimensions in the wake of the renaissance of mechanical wristwatches.

For its first tourbillon, the Kodo Constant-Force Tourbillon, Grand Seiko drew inspiration from the beauty of the original mechanism, but equipped it with an ingenious design that likewise has a long tradition in fine watchmaking, yet is nonetheless very rare: the constant force. The patented mechanism...