The tourbillon was first patented in 1801 as a new type of regulator that compensated for the effects of gravity on a pocket watch. One of the most celebrated horological inventions, the single-axis tourbillon was a visual spectacle to behold, with the mechanical whirlwind containing the time regulating organ completing one revolution a minute.

Franck Muller, however, was not content to create just single-axis tourbillons. At the turn of the millennium, his sheer genius would open the flood gates of boundless creativity for the world of horology. In a monumental breakthrough of modern-day watchmaking, the enigmatic Muller debuted three radically different tourbillon complications that have changed the face of haute horlogerie forever.

The first blazing comet was the Revolution 1, featuring a tourbillon cage that could rise up and out of the dial at the push of a button. The Revolution 2 followed, with a twin tourbillon system that rotated on two axes, but the real supernova was the Revolution 3, first released in 2004. Rotating about three axes, the new ground-breaking tourbillon could effectively negate the effects of gravity in all three dimensions – and a legend was born – the world’s first triple-axis tourbillon.

Reasserting Franck Muller’s conferment as the Master of Complications, the horological tour de force that first acquainted the world with triple-axis tourbillons is now featured in the VanguardTM collection for the very first time. Housed in a sporty V50 sapphire tonneau case, three robust arcs stand out on the extreme machine, with one arc brandishing the 10 days of power reserve at the top, while retrograde indicators below detail the rate of rotation of the energetic tourbillon.

The mesmerising hurricane that is the undoubted star of this masterpiece beats tirelessly away on three different axes, completing three different revolutions in 1, 8 and 60 minutes. To fully showcase the powerful heart of this formidable timepiece, the sapphire crystal has been hemispherically domed, and protrudes from the front and the back of the VanguardTM Revolution 3 Skeleton. Treated with SuperLuminova, the hour and minute hands illuminate the time atop stacked barrels, which supply energy to power the haut de gamme creation.

The elaborately skeletonised new Vanguard™ Revolution 3 Skeleton comes with the esteemed manufacture’s 5-year tourbillon warranty and is accompanied with an interactive presentation box with an automated opening system.