The Tourbillon

The Tourbillon by Jämes-César Pellaton is a comprehensive exploration of the whimsical world of the tourbillon. Originally published in the “Annales Francaises de Chronometrie” in 1950, this short book covers the history, development, operation, and construction of the Breguet tourbillon. Inventions related to the tourbillon, such as the Bonniksen karussel and the Benoît tourbillon, are also discussed.

Jämes-César Pellaton (1873–1954) was uniquely qualified to write that history. The son of the escapement specialist Albert Pellaton-Favre, he began his career as a detent-escapement and marine-chronometer specialist at Ulysse Nardin in Le Locle, then spent thirty-six years at the École d’Horlogerie du Locle—first teaching the escapement class, then directing the school from 1929 until his retirement in 1939. During that span he and his students built twenty-three tourbillons at the school, and Pellaton himself made roughly thirty-five more for Patek Philippe, plus others for Girard-Perregaux. In 1926 he produced what was then the smallest tourbillon in the world, a 10½-ligne movement just under 24 mm across. The University of Neuchâtel awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1938.