Horological Meandering

mkvc
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You're absolutely right, Thomas.

A finely-made tourbillon remains a notable horological accomplishment and should be respected as such. When a company goes out of its way to make an excellent and original tourbillon (see, for example, Chopard's or Omega's), that accomplishment will tend to raise or maintain the status of the company as a whole. I think you and I agree on those points, and I certainly didn't intend to minimize leval of achievement that a tourbillon could represent.

However, not all tourbillons represent such accomplishments. It used to be the case that the only kind of tourbillon was a finely-made one, because one that was not finely made would not run. Modern technology has permitted the manufacture of tourbillons that are not finely made but still work. Because of that, the mere presence of a tourbillon on a watch no longer signals high quality.

Accordingly, it seems to me that when a medium-quality watch company puts a relatively ordinary tourbillon on one of its watches, it is not necessarily trying to pull itself up by its horological bootstraps, elevate its standing, play in the big leagues, or otherwise gain status. It's just trying to make something its customers will like and perhaps even buy.