Hacking Tourbillons: A History
While the hacking tourbillon wristwatch is a relatively recent development, arriving in 2008 with the A. Lange & Söhne Cabaret, historical watchmakers have been devising ways to stop tourbillons for nearly as long as the complication has existed. These early solutions, primarily for pocket watches, employed various methods to halt the tourbillon or its seconds hand without necessarily stopping the entire watch, addressing the challenge of precise time setting.
- Hacking tourbillon wristwatch first appeared in 2008 (A. Lange & Söhne Cabaret).
- Early watchmakers developed methods to stop tourbillons or seconds hands in pocket watches.
Abraham-Louis Breguet patented the tourbillon invention almost 225 years ago, primarily to improve accuracy during testing by rotating components along the same axis as the balance.
Breguet experimented with stopping mechanisms, including nibs in the case band to halt the balance on some watches.
Breguet also equipped some four-minute tourbillon pocket chronometers with stoppable seconds by adding a secondary 'observation seconds' hand, controlled by a repeater plunger in the pendant, which could be resumed at will.
Jacques-Frédéric Houriet, a Swiss chronometer maker, designed movements that were among the first with a true stop-tourbillon feature, halting the third wheel via a tab accessible by opening the bezel.
Houriet's stop-tourbillon mechanism is documented on watches signed by Hunt & Roskell and Urban Jügensen, and variations appear on watches by Philippe Du Bois and Berthoud Frères.