Independents

20 Years of Tourbillons from Richard Habring

 

20 Years of Tourbillons from Richard Habring

It was in September 1989 that Richard Habring presented his first tourbillon watch or better, a tiny carriage clock with a movement about 35mm long in a linear arrangement. After completing his apprenticeship as a watchmaker Richard prepared for the master watchmakers exams in only one year and during this time also had the time to design and manufacture this tourbillon.  The design is very traditional following the studies of Abraham Louis Breguet who had invented the system about 200 years earlier.  A total of 600 hours was spent for the design and manufacture.

This started a long list of tourbillons over the years, unique pieces as well as pieces that have been manufactured in series.  Having tried most of the possibilities to make different types of tourbillons over the years Richard Habring has become one of the noted specialists in tourbillon design.  It was his groundbreaking idea in the early 1990's to use a high precision ball bearing for the carriage instead of steel pivots in rubies that enabled many of the "flying tourbillons" we see today, tourbillons without an upper carriage bearing.

The following is a pictorial history of the Habring tourbillons.  Please excuse the image quality, most of these photos are scans of film pictures.

#1 1989 - Carriage Clock

- 35mm long inline movement
- Based onto the 13-line sized calibre Revue Thommen 81
- One day power reserve, wound and set with a key from the back
- Tourbillon in classical design made of blued steel
- Shock protected jewelled bearings
- Monometallic balance with Breguet-overcoil
- Case of solid silver with mineral crystals
- A door in the back allows winding and setting
- Literatur: „Das Tourbillon” - Reinhard Meis, 2. Edition 1993, Seite 361

A couple of questions and answers from Richard about his first tourbillon:
- What was the impetus for making your first tourbillon? 
RH "The real story is that I had a colleague joining later at my very first job who’s dream it was to produce a tourbillon. And I did not want to let him overtake me. So I started to do it as well. His has never been finished! ;-) While working on #1 I had so many problems to solve that it became almost like a junky with his drugs. You can't leave it anymore."
- Where you inspired by Daniels as so many others have been?
RH "I felt more inspired by Pellaton's work or by Omega's observatory or one early Patek with CuBe-Cage. Technologically superior in my opinion - using steel for the carriage does not really make sense for me in a watch for daily wearing."
- What tools/machines did you have available as you made your first tourbillon?
RW "I had my simple hand tools like tweezers, screwdrivers, files beside an old Boley watchmakers lathe I bought for roughly 5.000,-- austrian shillings which was at that time equivalent to about SFr. 600,--"
- Did you use parts from an existing movement and why?
RH "Yes - Revue 81 or MSR X3: a traditional 13-lines hand wound movement similar to a AS1130 or Unitas 6325. At this time -late 80's - the Austrian distributor was selling those watches (with Niva 1 - screw balance) for about ATS 2.500,-- - and he had lots of spares available. I bought 2 watches and 5 parts each of wheels, balance and so on."
- What was most challenging in making this clock and why?
RH "It was supposed to become an inline movement inspired by Corum's golden bridge. I wanted to make it as a wrist watch even though being wound and set by a little key. When it was ready I found out what was really the problem with the tourbillon. To make it is one thing - to have it performing well in terms of 6 positions regulation is the tough job. I did the bearing of the cage wrong - I thought it must be superior to bear the entire cage in Incas. But this lead to a difference between flat and hanging positions of almost 1 minute! So I decided to do a new one and leave this as a clock."
- What did you learn while making this clock that you continue to profit from today?
RH "As mentioned the point before: The fine timing after being produced. To find the right configuration of the cage bearing kept me making some more following pieces - each one improving further. It lead to my favourite solution to use a ball bearing for the carriage."

#2 1990 - Pocket Watch with Inline Movement

- Based onto a 19-line sized Zenith pocket watch calibre
- One day power reserve
- Wound and set with a key from the back.
- Flying carriage in the form of an "R"
- Inline escapement with flying escape wheel
- Compensated bimetal balance and blue steel hairspring with Breguet-overcoil.
- Solid silver case with hinged back
- The setting and winding key is contained by the screw in the pendant.
- Literatur: „Das Tourbillon” - Reinhard Meis, 2. Edition 1993, Page 361

#3 1991 - Tourbillon in IWC calibre 790xx

- Based on parts from the IWC calibers 3759 and 790
- Flying tourbillon with a ball bearing
- Flying pallet fork with a ball bearing
- Flying escape wheel in a ruby bearing
- Tourbillon carriage made from two polished steel parts
- Monometallic screw balance with Breguet overcoil.
- Literatur: „Das Tourbillon” - Reinhard Meis, 2. Edition 1993, Page 371

#4 1991 - Tourbillon in JLC "Pendulette"

- Built into a production "Pendulette" from Jaeger-leCoultre
- Based on parts from the IWC caliber 9520
- Flying carriage made from polished steel with a ball bearing
- Flying pallet fork and escape wheel
- Monometallic balance with Breguet-overcoil
- Unusual frequency, one 360°-turn in 50 seconds
- 2 days power reserve
- Rhodium plated case in horseshoe form.

#5 1991 - Carriage Clock with Tourbillon

- A fully interchangeable tourbillon-escapement on a carriage clock from L'Epee
- Based on parts from the caliber IWC 9520
- Flying carriage made from polished steel with a ball bearing
- Flying pallet fork and escape wheel
- Monometallic balance with Breguet-overcoil
- Hand engraved escapement plate signed "Richard Habring - Kurt Kerber"
- Gold plated oval case
- A door on the back allows for winding and setting with a key.

#6 1992 - Deck Watch with Power Reserve

- Realized using a IWC pocket watch reference 5301 with the caliber 9720
- Flying tourbillon made of polished steel and brass with a ball bearing
- Monometallic balance with Breguet-overcoil
- Three-quarter-plate with gold chatons
- Power reserve indication without differential at the movement side
- This design is still the base of the "Apprentices-tourbillon" in IWC's own watchmaking school.
- Satinated stainless steel case with crystal caseback.

#7 1993 - Titanium Tourbillon of the Series - Il Destriero

- 12mm titanium carriage with a ball bearing
- Antimagnetic pallet fork and escape wheel
- Monometallic balance with Breguet-overcoil
- The tourbillon has 96 parts with a total weight of 0,296 g.
- Built as a module that is then assembled into the movement.

#8 1993 - Solid Gold Pocket Watch
 
- Based on an IWC pocket watch reference 5404 with caliber 9820
- Flying tourbillon made of steel and brass with a ball bearing
- Monometallic balance with Breguet-overcoil from caliber IWC 9520
- Movement engraved by master engraver Wolfgang Sigwart
- Polished solid gold case with inner crystal caseback.

#9 1994 - Pocket Watch with Semi-Flying Tourbillon

- Based on a caliber 67 from IWC
- Semi-flying tourbillon with a ball bearing
- Upper bearing of the balance in the original balance cock
- Three part carriage made of polished steel and brass
- Monometallic balance with "free-sprung" hairspring based on caliber IWC 9720
- Stop second with pusher
- Antique solid gold case

#10 1996 - Two-Axis Tourbillon

- A regular tourbillon mounted on an additional plate to turn in a second direction
- Carriage made of polished steel and brass with a ball bearing
- Monometallic balance with Breguet-overcoil based on the IWC caliber 9520
- Handmade movement with 8 days power reserve
- All bearings made of ruby
- Solid silver Regulator-dial hand engraved by master engraver Wolfgang Sigwart
- Blue steel hands
- The clock stands on brass pillars on a wooden base underneath a crystal dome
- Winding and setting by key

This was essentially a R&D type piece which was to investigate the effects of the mass on the tourbillon itself.  Turning in the plane that it does the second axis of the tourbillon is not very useful and tests showed that it did not add to the accuracy of the timepiece.  After that Richard decided not to continue further in this direction.  But the turning tourbillon sure does look good.

Interesting in connection with this clock is the fact that this clock was an additional motivation for Thomas Prescher to make multiple axle tourbillons.  Thomas was at the time finishing his 4th year of apprenticeship at IWC and was bitten by the tourbillon bug after reading the book by Reinhard Meis.  Thomas made his first tourbillon during that 4th apprenticeship year based on a design made for IWC by Richard Habring, with both of their permissions, of course.
 

#11 1998 - Silver Pocket Watch with Tourbillon

- Based onto the IWC caliber 67
- Carriage of polished steel and skeletonised brass with a ball bearing
- Pallet fork and monometallic balance with Breguet-overcoil based on IWC 9720
- Excenters instead of banking pins.
 

#12 1999 - Projekt XXL

- Based onto a huge old solid gold pocket watch signed "H. Gabriel"
- 26mm carriage of brass and polished steel with a ball bearing
- Pallet fork and balance with a free sprung hairspring based on IWC 9720
- Fully modular tourbillon - interchangeable with the original escapement
- Solid gold case
 

#13 1999 Simpli-Tourbillon

- Based on the IWC caliber 983
- Carriage made from titanium with a ball bearing
- Monometallic balance with free-sprung hairspring
- Regulation via excenters on the balance
- Extremely reduced carriage diameter because of fixing screws from the side.
- First IWC-based tourbillon visible from the front
- Solid stainless steel case in Portugieser form
- Crystal caseback

#14 2000 -  Sport Tourbillon

- Based for the first time on a caliber Unitas 6498
- Carriage made of titanium in solid execution of one bridge
- Screw balance with flat hairspring and Triovis-regulation device
- Solid stainless steel case with 40mm diameter
- Sapphire crystal front and back
 

#15 2002 - Golden Cage

- Based on the Unitas caliber 6498-1
- Carriage made of gold plated brass - solid gold would be too heavy
- Mono-metal balance with flat hairspring and Triovis-regulation device
- 45mm stainless steel waterproof watchcase in cushion form
- Handmade dial and hands from own production

Today in 2009 the top-of-the-line Habring² model is this, the Tourbillon 3D.  The two layer "3D" dial allows visibility deep into the movement and through the tourbillon carriage.  The tourbillon cage itself is 15mm in diameter, the screwed balance wheel 13mm.  The movement, a highly modified Unitas caliber 6498-1, is hand wound with a diameter of 36.6mm and a thickness of 6.5mm and is available either hand engraved or angled with circular côtes.  The watch case, in either stainless steel or 18k gold pink or white gold, is 42mm in diameter and 12.5mm high, water resistant to 50m and with a domed antireflective sapphire crystal.  As always customer wishes are taken into account if possible giving the possibility to make each watch a "piece unique".

This is Richards's account of the number of parts in the tourbillon cage (hold on!):
"I counted 21 (17 + 4 rubies) parts when counting the Incas as one part each (actually they contain four parts as you know) the bridge not counted. 27 with all parts counted we call "maintenance relevant" (those you disassemble at a regular service). On the picture we're missing the 6 pillars and their 12 screws - so all together 45. If we reduce it to those parts which are really turning then we have to reduce it by the lower Inca, the central tube which holds it, the fixed wheel, and the inner part of the ball bearing. (41) Lange would count in addition all the separated parts of the balance (every single screw), anchor, and so on (they define it as parts to be produced) balance=25 parts; pallet fork=6; escapement wheel=2; regulator=3; porte-piton=4. So in total I count 81 ;-)
Let's keep it 40! ;-)"

And all that weighs less than 0.6gramm despite the large 15mm cage with 13mm balance wheel and the use of no exotic lightweight materials such as titanium.

The watches made by Maria and Richard Habring, Habring², are all designed to be robust stable and accurate timekeepers for daily wear.  The Tourbillon 3D is no exception.  These twenty years of experience provide a base of confidence that few other makers can provide.

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