Audemars Piguet Automatic Tourbillon Caliber 2870 Watch Review

Audemars Piguet Automatic Tourbillon Caliber 2870 Watch Review

Audemars Piguet Automatic Tourbillon Caliber 2870 Watch Review

You will find, you probably know this, not a great deal of real firsts in watchmaking

Audemars Piguet Automatic Tourbillon Caliber 2870 Watch Review

Which isn’t surprising whenever you consider its history. The lever escapement, that is found  in essentially every modern watch in a single form or any other, blew into the city in 1750 the moment repeater had essentially adopted its current form through the finish from the 1700s the very first perpetual calendar watch is most likely one produced by Thomas Mudge, in 1764.  A brief history of watchmaking is extremely past small, hard-won incremental enhancements that unfolded more than a very lengthy time period, and that's why watches like Audemars Piguet’s caliber 2870 automatic tourbillon - less well-known because of its reference number, 25643, compared to the specific movement, for reasons we’ll see shortly -  continue being interesting, and then be tales worth telling. Another reason (besides intrinsic interest) the caliber 2870 may be worth remembering happens because it’s one of the couple of real benchmark watches that sets a typical by which you'll measure more contemporary watches - right lower to the current.

So what it's? It’s a self-winding tourbillon watch, but it is also the very first series created automatic tourbillon watch, and for the way you define “most thin” it’s still perhaps the thinnest automatic tourbillon watch available. Not just that, it might create a reasonable tell you they are the very first series created tourbillon watch, period. Caliber 2870/reference 25643 by Audemars Piguet, first introduced in April of 1986, is just 4.8 mm thick overall, and also to make this type of thin tourbillon movement - this really is lengthy before such things as CAD and spark erosion machines and LIGA technology made tourbillons (even ultra thin ones) within achieve for an array of makers - was a nearly impossible challenge.

Really small tourbillons have been made before

Obviously. James Pellaton made one, in 1927, which was only 23.6 mm across, and the apprentice, Fritz-Andre Robert-Charrue of Le Locle (who been successful Pellaton because the director from the watchmaking school there) required 5 years to create a remarkably small tourbillon movement which was only 19.7 mm across, by having an 8 mm carriage. When it comes to diameter, it set an archive for size that continues to be unbeaten today. Robert-Charrue place it inside a watch which was only 23.8 mm overall, also it was finished in 1945.

Clearly, it had been within the technical abilities of makers at that time to create one-off tourbillons that might have been put into a watch, although making tourbillon movements sufficiently small for wristwatches in series was an even bigger problem, and that's why, watch tourbillons intend for purchase towards the public are nearly nonexistent prior to the 2870’s introduction. Patek Philippe made watch tourbillon movements from time to time within the 1940s and 50s but very couple of, and just for special customers, or observatory timing competitions. In 1947, Omega introduced the caliber 30I tourbillon movement, that was like Patek’s tourbillon calibers meant for the observatory competitions. As you can tell, they weren't made with looks in your mind, but instead, with precision and rate stability, plus they were also not commercial pieces. As many as 12 were created, as well as in 1950 a caliber 30I placed first in the Geneva observatory competitions. Unlike many modern tourbillons, caliber 30I were built with a 7.5 minute carriage. They were, combined with the very few observatory tourbillons produced by Patek, the very first generation of watch tourbillons, nor the Patek nor Omega tourbillons were cased before the 1980s.  There are more very singular types of watch tourbillons in the pre-The Second World War era, and from soon after - in france they firm Lip designed a couple of prototype tourbillon movements according to their famous tonneau-formed T18 caliber in 1930, based on Reinhard Meis, Edouard Belin designed a watch tourbillon from the Lip ebauche in the watchmaking school in Besancon. And, rather incredibly, Girard-Perregaux designed a 30 mm/13 ligne tourbillon movement having a chronometer detent escapement in 1890. However these movements are outstanding due to their rarity or uniqueness, and just what connects all of them as that they are produced in small figures as a means of getting credit for their makers, not to increase the conclusion directly.

I’m presenting this background as a means of showing precisely 

How groundbreaking the Audemars Piguet caliber 2870 really was. To begin with, nobody had available a self-winding series created tourbillon before, and essentially, so far as I will tell nobody had ever made a tourbillon watch supposed to have been a set-created commercial piece before, for instance. It might appear difficult to believe now because of so many different tourbillons available on the market, however in 1986 tourbillon wristwatches remained as unbelievably rare, with a maximum of a few around. The 2870 was, of necessity, a technically groundbreaking movement it  includes a really small, very light tourbillon carriage, 7.2 mm across, contributing to 2.5mm high, and it is made from titanium - the very first use ever recorded of these a fabric in tourbillon manufacturing. Consequently, the carriage was very light (only .134 grams) and the quantity of energy essential to move it may be reduced, permitting the flat mainspring necessary in this very flat watch.