Inside A Tourbillon Cage

The way a Swiss lever escapement works is not that fancy or spectacular. A bit like a miniaturized grandfather clock, really. What impresses me the most is the endurance of these tiny mechanisms. The form of the gears and the amount of  friction between materials is so well thought out, that these little rascals can keep on running for years, 24/7. When you finally take them apart they often show hardly any wear… and the amount of oil needed to lube a wrist watch would fit in a fly’s nipple. Now, if that’s not impressing, I don’t know what is.