Bird on a Flying Tourbillon

Tiffany & Co.’s Bird on a Flying Tourbillon is an outstanding fusion of Métiers d’art, Jewelry and Haute Horlogerie.

The timepiece draws inspiration from the celebrated "Bird on a Rock" brooch, created for Tiffany & Co. by the great designer Jean Schlumberger in 1965. Uniting the four pillars that define the House – design, artistic craftsmanship, jewelry expertise and fine watchmaking – it is an eloquent expression of all that Tiffany & Co. stands for.

Métiers d’art and Jewelry

Bird on a Flying Tourbillon brings together four different and highly specialized artistic crafts: gemstone marquetry, gold sculpting, snow-setting and the hand-faceting of sapphire crystal.

The dial is formed of turquoise marquetry, an intricate craft in which wafer-thin slices of natural turquoise gemstone are cut into 16 different cloud-like shapes. The pieces are hand-polished before being laid down edge-to-edge, with some of them set on slightly different levels to add a sense of depth and movement. The turquoise marquetry represents 45 hours of work.

Against the backdrop of the turquoise ‘sky’, a pair of miniature diamond-set birds appears to take flight. Each of these tiny birds is hand-sculpted from 18k white gold before being set with a total of 147 diamonds. The miniature-sculpting and diamond setting of the birds require more than 30 hours.

The flying tourbillon mechanism is visible beneath a dome of faceted sapphire crystal – unique in watchmaking – that resembles a diamond. Weighing a mere 0.3 grams, the ultra-thin sapphire is faceted using hand-operated diamond tools.

The snow-setting technique was chosen for the decoration of the case and the movement. Acknowledged to be the most challenging gem-setting technique, it requires that stones of different sizes are placed in such a way that almost no metal remains visible.

Highlighting Tiffany & Co.’s expertise in diamonds, Bird on a Flying Tourbillon is set with 848 diamonds (for a total of 4 carats). The winding crown, inspired by the emblematic Tiffany® Setting, features a prong-set solitaire diamond of 0.42 carats. The process of setting the diamonds on Bird on a Flying Tourbillon exceeds 100 hours in total.

Haute Horlogerie

The bespoke movement – Caliber AFT24T01 – was developed under the creative direction of Tiffany & Co. in Geneva, by the innovative Swiss Haute Horlogerie manufacture Artime. Comprising 205 components, the hand-wound movement offers a power reserve of 60 hours.

Attached to the tourbillon, the faceted sapphire dome makes a full rotation in 60 seconds, along with the tourbillon cage. As the dome turns, its diamond-like facets catch the light, creating fascinating and constantly moving patterns on the dial.

The transparent sapphire crystal case-back displays the beauty of the flying tourbillon movement, which is hand-finished with a variety of haute horlogerie techniques to add richness and contrast, including beveling, sandblasting, straight graining, satin finishing and high polish. The two distinctive star-shaped bridges – inspired by the six-pronged Tiffany® Setting – offer an additional glimpse of the enduring spirit and design legacy of Tiffany & Co.