Incredible Bugatti Tourbillon watch has crystal ‘engine’ with moving pistons

If you happen to have seen a Bugatti Veyron recently, you might have looked into the cockpit and got the impression that it all looks rather old-fashioned. Which is understandable because next year marks two decades since the 8-litre W16 hit the streets.

What many will have forgotten was that the Veyron’s gestation to full production model lasted a painful two years due to problems in trying to harness the car’s performance. Meanwhile, niche brand Parmigiani Fleurier – which was tasked with creating a radical timepiece to complement the car – managed to get its Type 370 watch ready to go in 2004, 18 months before the Veyron was tamed.

In a bid to keep some waiting Veyron customers interested, it was decided to unveil the Type 370 in Milan alongside a static example of the car. Like the Veyron, the watch was far-out and it divided opinion having been designed to look like a transverse engine with its dial on the end of the case (to make it easy to read while driving) and the complex movement being visible through multiple glass windows.

To fully charge its twin spring barrels to give 10 days of power reserve, the watch came with an electrically powered winding tool – thrown in as part of the £100,000 price tag.

Today, just like the Veyron, the Type 370 looks quaintly outdated – especially when seen against this latest Bugatti timepiece made by Jacob & Co – Bugatti’s watch partner since 2019.

Bugatti pulled the wraps off its Tourbillon hypercar, inset, in June announcing that the 276mph rocket ship would go into production in 2026. In the interim, potential owners of the £3.2m exotic can buy Jacob & Co’s Bugatti Tourbillon watch for less than a tenth of the car’s price. It features a 52x44mm case inspired by parts of the Bugatti, while a retrograde hours and minutes display starts at zero to mimic a rev counter and is flanked by a 30-second flying tourbillon and a power reserve indicator.

The pièce de résistance is a representation of the V16 engine made from sapphire crystal – and fitted with a tiny crankshaft, 16 moving pistons and a full set of exhaust manifolds.

For those unfamiliar with the term ‘tourbillon’, it’s a device patented by Abraham-Louis Breguet in 1801.  It confines the escapement – the bit that controls the speed at which power from the mainspring escapes – inside a tiny, rotating cage to combat inaccuracies in pocket watches that spent too long upright in, er, pockets. It’s a feature considered superfluous on a wristwatch, which moves on the wrist.

Likewise, a 276mph road car is probably superfluous, too – but if you’ve got the money…

Jacob & Co Bugatti Tourbillon, £266,000.  jacobandco.com

Two-and-a-half years after announcing its partnership with Triumph, Breitling has revealed this third watch dedicated to the motorcycle marque. The titanium and red gold chronograph is supplied on a racy, perforated leather strap – and can be complemented with a Breitling limited-edition version of Triumph’s decidedly rapid Speed Triple 1200 RR motorcycle. Buying one of the 270 co-branded bikes comes with the opportunity to acquire an owners’ exclusive version of the watch engraved with the machine’s VIN.

Breitling Chronomat B01 42 Triumph, from £8600. breitling.com

Roger Dubuis, Lamborghini’s official watch sponsor, chose June’s Le Mans 24 Hours to pull the wraps off this, its latest project with the Italian maker. Described as an “homage” to the partnership with the Squadra Corse race team, the colours of the new piece are based on those of the SC63 Hypercar. Measuring 45mm in diameter and certainly eye-catching in its Verde Mantis colour scheme, the carbon-cased, flyback chronograph uses a 310-piece version of a movement first seen last year. It is limited to 88 examples.

Roger Dubuis Excalibur Spider Flyback, £91,500. rogerdubuis.com

Precision is written by renowned luxury goods specialist Simon de Burton