Thinking Tourbillons

TGIF ! So to end off the work week, I am wondering if any of you gentlemen out here have any thoughts on the type of tourbillons you prefer - what do u like about it, and among the different editions IWC offers, what is your favorite and least favorite (putting aside cost considerations) ?

(post edit: thanks Waimar, for the nudge to get the references in)

Here are some pics to get this going:

5044-01: Portuguese Tourbillon Retrograde Date in Platinum www.iwc.com/en-us/collection/portuguese/IW5044/

5044-02: Portuguese Tourbillon Retrograde Date in Red Gold www.iwc.com/en-us/collection/portuguese/IW5044/

5446-01 Portuguese Tourbillon Regulateur Platinum - original black strap changed to brown by boutique stuff - interesting perspective no ? :)

Left: Portuguese Tourbillon Mystere IW5042-07 in white gold
Right: 5044-02: Portuguese Tourbillon Retrograde Date in Red Gold www.iwc.com/en-us/collection/portuguese/IW5044/

Portuguese FA Jones Hand-wound Tourbillon 544703 in white gold

(just to get this noted, in case it is not elsewhere - 5447-XX:
01: ??
02: yellow gold with blue dial -> is this the one in Alan's pic too ??
03: white gold with grey dial
04: platinum with black dial
05: red gold with black dial (in active collection as of today)

Portuguese Tourbillon Mystere IW5042-10 (I believe - please correct if you have more accurate information) in rose gold

<post edit: pic deleted>

5446-03 Portuguese Tourbillon Regulateur in White Gold

5446-01 Portuguese Tourbillon Regulateur in Platinum

Left: 5446-01 Portuguese Tourbillon Regulateur in Platinum
Right: Portuguese FA Jones Hand-wound Tourbillon 544704 in Platinum

Siderale (the product managers during the presentation gave the reference for the Siderale -- did anyone remember it ?)

FA Jones Tourbillon Platinum 25 pcs:

I rather like the Sidérale Tourbillon.
This is one part because of its look and one part because it is a constant force tourbillon and a technical masterpiece

the Sidérale Scafusia is my pick of the bunch... indeed a technical masterpiece with great looks.

(not too crazy about the Regulator ones though - having roman numerals in one sub dial and arabic in another just throws it off for me...)

best,
vinthang

My favorite: Automatic and one of the moste elegant designs.

No idea on the size to compare one to the other, but I prefer the first two watches you showed, the Plat and RG but it's your choice, so what's it to be?

size wise for the Portuguese Tourbillon Retrograde Date is 44mm.

good question - it was the first one initially, then I warmed up to the one below. as was pointed out to me the Portuguese Tourbillon Retrograde Date's tourby may seem a bit 'crowded'. the tourby regulateur (43mm) is less crowded, and for me the hour counter in roman numerals is a winning point. hmmm... the courtship continues and I'm enjoying the musings.

RG Tourbillion Retrograde would be my choice. It has a very clean dial. RG case and white dial is the winner.

I agree with your choice Felix.

A tourbillon is a technical marvel that has some mesmerising effect when looking at it while it is running. Being not quite affordable to me I never gave it much thought. You could also see it as a hole in the dial of the watch, taking away quite a bit of the classy design of the dial, the whole watch. I have no favourite, but when talking high class complications I would rather have a perpetual calendar or a minute repeater.

Kind regards,
Paul

Felix and Dave, I am with you guys on your choice. You can't go wrong with that combination. If you can pull it off when you are young, you can be assured of the longevity of the ownership of the watch because you will never sell it when you are old... IWC for the next generation.

To me, there is a quantum leap from a watchmaking perspective to reach a tourbillon (or a Repeater), and horology is about achievement as art.

I personally like the manual wind tourbillons, because they are much thinner and the modification of the base movement --the classic cal. 98xx pocket watch movement--to a higher beat is special. I greatly prefer the movement, but I admit the Ardoise-dial retrograde dial is very pretty.

To me, THE watch is the Regulateur Tourbillon, because of what it represents and what it achieves --at roughly half the price too.

Personally, I find the Tourbillion to be mostly a pipe dream for me. There are several designs I find interesting, particularly the one MF owns, but generally, the prices are prohibitive.
So it becomes like owning automobiles. We all like the exotic or super luxury cars. But few of us will ever drive one.
I appreciate the technology and craft behind the making of a Tourbillion, but any desire to own one is muted by the reality of the pricing.

I am a fan of other brands complicated tourbillons - but for IWC it has to be the constant force tourbillon in the special Portuguese Siderale.

The Da Vinci Cal 76061 one-minute tourbillon is also subtle in its shyness.

A tourbillon has been my ultimate dream for many years - ever since I first learned about it and the technical marvel it represents in the early 90's.
And of the ones presented I have to say I agree with Michael - that Regulateur with the small Roman hour dial is so balanced and clean compared to the others.

With that said though, maybe I have grown up or just had a subtle shift of preference, but after SIHH I was just blown away by the elegant outside and yet complicated inside of the Minute Repeater - I have a new grail to chase :-)

very awesome piece and good taste!!

Dear Shing and all others reading,

Thanks for the nice pictures. Since I am new to IWC it is not as straightforward for me as it is for you "veterans" (and I use this term without the intent of offending anyone) to identify all these watches.

This was my first try:
1) 5044-01 Tourbillon Mystère Rétrograde
2) Same as 1
3) Same as 1
4) 5044-02 Tourbillon Mystère Rétrograde
5) Same as 4
6) 5446-01 Regulateur Tourbillon (didn't the platinum version originally come on a black strap?)
7) Same as 6
8) Same as 6
9) left: 5042-07 Tourbillion Mystère (if this is right what is the difference between this one and number 4?)
right: Same as 4
10) Looks like 5447-05 Tourbillon Hand Wound F.A. Jones edition but it is in the "wrong" color, the website states it is only available in red gold?
11) 5042-02 Tourbillion Mystère
12) left: 5042-10 Tourbillion Mystère
right: Same as 4
13) Same as 6
14) 5446-03 Regulateur Tourbillon
15) Same as 6 on a white strap?
16) left: same as 15
right: same as 10?
17) Sidérale
18) Sidérale
19) Sidérale

Am I correct?
And my second question, is there any documentation on the internet or anywhere else I could look into in order to quickly identify IWC watches made in the last 20 or so years? Because not all watches in Shing's pictures were on the IWC website (like the Regulateurs..) some Googling and scraping information from different sources was necessary (especially googling ;) ).
Surely, there must be a catalogue of all IWC references sold in the last few years with a nice pic to accompany the information?

Regards,

Waimar

Hi Waimar,

Thanks for the nudge - I have put in the references that I know of. Some I have come across but I can't remember at the moment.

This particular resource which you may already know of, by Cellar, is very useful too: www.gregsteer.net/IWC/Portuguese_LE/Portuguese_LE.htm

The past collections would not be on the official IWC website - although there are definitely some resources available online (which I often turn to). If u wish to know more please drop me an email as we will need to take this offline.

Does anyone remember the reference for the Siderale ? It was told to us during the presentation at SIHH.

Thanks very much Shing, most helpful!

As for the Sidérale reference I think it is 5041(01)
www.iwc.com/en-us/collection/siderale/IW504101/

I will collect my thoughts and send you an email.

Regards,

Waimar