Real watch Collectors always love the art of watch making , not the cost. Tourbillon is not a simple timepiece but an artistic and technological marvel. So it is more precious. I am sure that, Alpina Extreme Tourbillon Regulator Manufacture will be a valuable addition to a watch collectors reserve.

How much of the escapement is silicium? Is it just the pallet fork and escape wheel or more? Regardless, even though certain parts of the escapement may not need service as frequently, the rest of the watch should still be taken care of. Dirty and dry pivots are not happy pivots, and people may take the above to mean that the watch itself can go longer without servicing which more than likely is not the case.

Tom: Many companies are delving into this segment. It is like it has become a rite of passage of sorts. Hublot, Concord, Bell & Ross are three other brands that come to mind that didn’t have any complicated pieces (I think) before they jumped into tourbillons. I think the sport tourbillon is very established in the market today, and Alpina just happens to offer one that is less expensive then many others. We will just have to wait to see if Alpina took the initiative too soon. According to them, however, their first version of the Tourbillon did very well. This is the watch: http://www.alpina-watches.com/en/watch/AL-980BBT5FBAE6.htm

Rob and Oliver: I’m not a watch maker, but those I talked to all revere the tourbillon mechanism. While there is a lot of hype around it, it actually IS a very complicated mechanism to manufacture. Mass production methods are not applicable. Proof is Chinese tourbillons. If you ever see an inexpensive, Chinese Tourbillon live, then you will know what I mean. The current methods that are capable to manufacture the tourb’s components are still slow and expensive. I have seen how high-quality rings are made and it gave me a new appreciation for the CNC machine. It takes over twelve hours to carve the WAX model of one ring. Imagine carving out dozens of parts, out of various metals and materials, with much higher precision requirements. I’m not sure if it would take twelve hours for each part, but you get the point. With Alpina’s Tourb and others that will certainly be released at Basel by other companies, the “Club Charge” HAS been removed. A tourbillon for less then $90K was unheard of up to a few years ago.

No sir, I didn’t like it.

A very good read regardless