Why The Price of The Tourbillon Watches Are so High

There are several aspects that factor into the high tourbillon price.

One being that the tourbillon mechanism is made under extremely tight mechanical tolerances. For this reason, special tools and machinery are used in their manufacture. Exotic metals such as titanium and beryllium known for their durability and light weight are used in the tourbillon regulator. It is often asked why they build cages as fine as cobwebs? Is the finesse of its cage built for show and the admiration of connoisseurs? No. The moment of inertia of the tourbillon cage must be reduced to a minimum and consequently, it cannot have much weight or friction. One has to remember that the same energy supplied by the watch's mainspring to move all the moving gears is also responsible to move the tourbillon. Any disturbance in the functioning of the tourbillon will effectively affect the accuracy of the watch.

Another reason attributing to the tourbillon price is timing and adjustment. Timing and adjustment of a tourbillon equipped watch is also extremely complex and time consuming. Each regulation of the balance, for instance, requires disassembly of the tourbillon. All of these are factored into the cost of a tourbillon watch.
Yet another reason for the high tourbillon price is the number of parts needed in the tourbillon. The escapement of the tourbillon is comprised of many tiny moving parts and they must all work in concert to produce the seductive "dance" of the tourbillon. See structure of the tourbillon. IWC's "Il Destriero Scafusia" model demonstrates the complexity of the mechanism. It is composed of approximately 100 parts and weighs only 0.296 grams.

As in days gone by, very few watch houses today have the time, capital, and experience to produce tourbillon watches and those that do, only produce a few dozen pieces a year. And in those select houses, only particularly skilled watchmakers can carry out the manual production of a tourbillon watch. The price for such a horological tour de force derives from its high research and development costs, the extremely small number of specimens produced, the esteem it deserves, and, of course, the number of watch lovers eager to acquire one (supply and demand). With the demand vs. supply curve skewed, the costs for tourbillon watches naturally go up. These are yet other factors that go into the high tourbillon price.

A less tangible and less obvious reason for the high tourbillon price is due to the economic landscape of mechanical watches. Since the price of high end mechanical wristwatches increased 300% in the late 1980s, the Swiss watch industry has settled down into a comfortable price-fixing monopoly. The situation has been complicated of late as watch companies have consolidated into groups with the power to control distribution channels. With this power comes the power to wield controls on pricing of wristwatches.