Do you wear a modern mechanical wristwatch? If so, your pride and joy probably benefits from a clear caseback, perfect for answering those detractors arguing that the words ‘modern’ and ‘mechanical wristwatch’ have no place in the same sentence. Unstrap your watch, flip it over and beguile these heartless robots with a microscopic spectacle of springs, levers and cogs – a joyous anachronism that couldn’t be more essential in our disposable digital age.

You can take such pleasure with an automatic Tissot costing as little as £500. But for 100 times that buck, your horological bang gets a whole lot, er, bangier, thanks to a little thing called a tourbillon (‘whirlwind’ in French). For a start, you don’t have to unstrap your watch to show off the micro-mechanics – this flea-circus merry-go-round sits proudly on your dial for everyone to see. A carousel, tumbling the ticking escapement over and over in a mesmerizing display of technical prowess.

You can wax lyrical about its 19th-century purist horological origins (which we will, below), but these days the tourbillon purely serves to embody ‘mechanical’ in an unashamedly extravagant fashion. It’s a spinning podium, rising from the stage in a billow of dry ice, feathered showgirl twirling on top. And every luxury watch brand, from Audemars Piguet to Zenith, would never dare not to include their own version in their catalogues.

Zenith Toubillon

“Chronographs or GMTs or divers may have usefulness and tactile engagement,” says Kyron Keogh, CEO of ROX jewellers, whose portfolio includes tourbillon brands Audemars, Chopard, Hublot and TAG Heuer, “but tourbillons are a tiny work of kinetic art on your wrist, which you can admire at any time.

“Of course, like a Rolls-Royce or Bentley, you’re joining a highly exclusive club – but unlike certain examples of those cars, no one will ever begrudge you your tourbillon. In fact, as a conversation piece, you can’t beat it.”