Watches are incredible things, don’t you think?
For a device that performs a fairly simple, common function (telling you the time!) the unlimited variations and steady stream of unique designs never fails to amaze.
Step forward the next exhibit – Jacob & Co’s Cyclone Tourbillon…
[Press Release] After 200 years, Swiss luxury watch maker Jacob & Co. has taken the tourbillon and given it a masterful new shape and design that assures its place in horological history. The Cyclone Tourbillon is the first tourbillon in which the tourbillon system and the automatic winding system are completely integrated with each other, providing an unrivaled visual display unlike any other in horology –and demonstrating the command of precision Swiss watchmaking championed by Jacob & Co.
The Cyclone Tourbillon was developed for Jacob & Co. by Swiss complications specialist La Fabrique du Temps, under the direction of Michel Navas and Enrico Barbasini, the N and B of the former BNB firm. Their development of the Cyclone Tourbillon in collaboration with Jacob & Co. is the latest product of a long and fruitful creative partnership which had previously already produced the Jacob & Co. four time zones complication used in the Jacob & Co. H24, as well as the revolutionary Quenttin Tourbillon with its groundbreaking 31 day power reserve. The Cyclone continues this tradition of revolutions in watchmaking. In the Cyclone timepiece, the tourbillon carriage is mounted on the oscillating mass of the automatic winding system , which, in order to provide a full display of its motion, has been moved from its normal position on the back of the watch to the dial side of the movement.
The movement –Jacob & Co. caliber LFT 108 – may incorporate much traditional high craft Swiss watchmaking but its rakish lines and aggressive finish are pure Jacob & Co. The entire complex arrangement has been contained in a movement 11.91mm in height, with a diameter of 34.60mm, and the automatic winding system is bidirectional, with a power reserve of 45 hours. The design of the timepiece accentuates both its audacity and mechanical complexity; there is no dial in the conventional sense. Instead, the hour and minute display, small seconds display, and power reserve are incorporated directly into the upper plate of the movement, allowing free movement, as well as an unobstructed view, of the tourbillon and automatic winding assemblies.
Technical Specifications
Case: 48 x 67mm, in a combination of white and rose gold
Dial: bidirectional winding system with “satellite” tourbillon mounted on rotor
Bezel: combination of white and rose gold
Movement: Caliber LFT 108 automatic tourbillon, Swiss made, 34.60mm diameter, “Jacob & Co.” decorative motif with brushed rhodium and black finish,
48 rubies, 28,800 vph
Power reserve: 45 hours
Strap: Black calfskin with ardillon buckle
