5 Best Affordable Tourbillon Watches for 2024 [UPDATED]

In horology, the tourbillon is seen as the most complicated yet fascinating mechanical watch ever created. Its complexity has always been associated with extravagant prices. Therefore, it’s actually a bit hard to find the best tourbillon watches under $1000.

As far as I know, Swiss-made tourbillons are generally priced above $30.000 USD. Why tourbillon watches are so expensive? It’s no doubt since the tourbillons are equipped with a very complicated movement and high-class craftsmanship.

However, I didn’t say that it’s impossible to find the best affordable tourbillon watches in the market. Thus, if you’re a new watch collector and want to experience the enjoyment of having tourbillons without taking huge risks in spending lots of money, you can read this article thoroughly to get a complete guide and recommendation.

What is a Tourbillon Watch?

Before reaching the recommendation of the best tourbillon watches, let’s get closer to this type of watch first. So, what is a tourbillon watch? A tourbillon is an additional feature to the escapement in a mechanical watch to avoid the gravity effect. It aims to boost the watch’s accuracy by constantly rotating the balance wheel, balance spring, and escapement.

It’s not a specific characteristic, but commonly a tourbillon watch showcases the movement on the watch’s face. So, the wearer (or everyone) can admire the rotating movement through the case.

The types of tourbillons are also varied, some of them are triple-axis tourbillon, flying tourbillon, double axis tourbillon, gyro tourbillon and quadruple tourbillon.

The Origin of Tourbillon

A tourbillon was originally founded by Abraham-Louis Breguet in 1795 and patented in 1801. The term was originally derived from the French word that means “whirlwind”, which specifically describes a motion.

The idea of the Tourbillon arose when Breguet realized that the accuracy of a watch was affected by changes in its position. This change particularly happened when the timepieces were kept in the vertical position, which frequently happened to a pocket watch that was kept in the waistcoat pocket most of the time.

As a person with a deep understanding of physical laws and horology, he understood that the main cause of this issue was gravity. Since it was impossible to eliminate the gravitational force, he tried to regulate the organ of the watch to be constantly in motion.

As a result, this invention managed to improve the accuracy of the pocket watch and enhanced the lubrication due to the constant rotation of the balance wheel, balance spring, and escapement while the movement is running.

Are Tourbillon Watches Worth it?

Well, in my opinion, this question could lead to two different answers. For a person who is looking for perfect accuracy from a watch, purchasing a Tourbillon might cause you disappointment. Because in fact, it’s been proven that tourbillons offer no more accuracy than a traditional escapement on a wristwatch, and are in some cases even less so.

However, if you’re a person with a high appreciation for high-end craftsmanship, a tourbillon is destined to be born for you. But the thing you should know, the more complex the movement, the more expensive the price.

Why? It’s been very well known that every tourbillon watch is built with complex mechanics. Furthermore, the tourbillon mechanism is tiny, weighing under a gram, and usually crafted with more than 40 parts. Thus, it requires an expert hand to build it. So, for that very high-end craftsmanship, I can tell it is worth the price.

Best Affordable Tourbillon Watches for 2023

Tourbillon watches are often seen as luxury timepieces due to their high extravagant price. As has been stated before, this high price is related to its complexity and high-end craftsmanship.

For some people, the price tag is something that matters. Therefore, if you really want to have this high-craftsmanship piece without spending a lot of money, we have enlisted some best tourbillon watches at affordable prices that are reasonable to afford.

1. Akribos XXIV Men’s Tourbillon Rose Gold

The first timepiece in the best tourbillon watches list is Akribos XXIV Men’s Tourbillon Rose Gold. Well-known for its oversized style, bold design, and high-quality craftsmanship, Akribos XXIV became a go-to-go style choice for anyone with great taste in style.

The 42.5mm diameter tourbillon features a white dial with a sun/moon indicator positioned at 3 o’clock. The skeleton window displays the movement and it’s positioned at 6 o’clock. Those all are coated with anti-reflective scratch-resistant sapphire glass.

As I stated before, most tourbillon watches are displaying their internal movement. In this case, Akribos XXIV Tourbillon Rose Gold does the same. They showcase the tourbillon movement from the large face to the fluted onion crown style so that everyone can see the detail of the manufacturer’s devotion to detail and quality.

2. Stuhrling Viceroy Tourbillon 296D

For the next best tourbillon watches, we have the Stuhrling Tourbillon 296D. Having been around since 2002, Stuhrling exists as a high-end watches manufacturer with affordable price tags. Over time, they continuously applied this value to their watches, including the Stuhrling Tourbillon 296D.

Stuhrling Tourbillon 296D - Source: Stuhrling

Stuhrling Tourbillon 296D is a hand-wind mechanical watch with a stainless steel case and polished bezel that measures 42mm in diameter. To make it eye-catching when exhibited, the manufacturer paired it with a crocodile leather strap, an exhibition case back, sapphire crystal (at the front and the back of the watch), and a tourbillon display at the 6 o’clock position.

Unlike many tourbillon watches out there, the watch face of the Stuhrling Tourbillon 296D is eligible enough despite having a tourbillon display. Thus, it gives you a simple but elegant look that makes it suitable to use as your dress watch.

3. Lenvino Real Flying Tourbillon

Lenvino Real Flying Tourbillon is another recommendation that features a stainless steel case, sapphire crystal, genuine calfskin leather straps, skeleton hands, Arabic numeral hour markers, and a tourbillon window at the 6 o’clock position.

For the movement, it’s run by the caliber TY800 mechanical hand-winding movement that provides power reserve for up to 40 hours.

Well, I almost forgot to mention that the straps are available in five different colors; brown, dark brown, dark grey, navy blue, and black. For anyone who loves an elegant yet minimalist style, this watch can be considered one of the best tourbillon watches to have.

4. ERA Timepieces Prometheus

As a masterpiece, ERA Timepieces Prometheus offers anything you would expect from a classic tourbillon watch.

Starting from the front side of the watch, the ERA Tourbillon cage has been carefully constructed from scratch to be completely symmetrical in weight. Knowing even a fraction of a gram of unbalanced weight could lead to a non-functioning Tourbillon timepiece.

ERA Timepieces Prometheus - Source: ERA Prometheus

The case diameter is measured at 44mm and equipped with a scratch-resistant and anti-reflective sapphire crystal, Hornback croc leather strap, skeleton dial, 24-hour GMT sub-dial, tourbillon mechanism, day-night sub-dial, and HZ3360A movement.

Moving to the back side of the watch, the back rotor is fully decorated with Côtes de Genève or also well-known as Geneva Waves – a symbol of the extreme level of expertise movement. In a word, I think ERA Timepieces Prometheus is simply a prestigious timepiece at its price.

5. Sugess Tourbillon Master

Finally, the last item in the best tourbillon watches list in this article is the Sugess Tourbillon Master. It’s a tourbillon watch with a fresh modern look and minimalistic design that you can consider afford.

The design is indeed very simple, but it’s still very attractive to be used on your wrist. It’s equipped with an attractive 12-hour main enamel dial with Arabic numerals painted black on the white dial. The blue steel hour and minute hands and screws also add a very nice contrast look to the dial.

For the main star, the tourbillon window is placed at 6 o’clock to steal the show. Priced around $2000 USD, it might be one of the best tourbillon watches that promise the real thing to boost your look.

Those are all some of the best tourbillon watches that are more affordable and reach those who are on a budget.

Last but not least, don’t forget to visit our blog to get further insight into horology, watch reviews, and recommendations.

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