Let me explain. High-end mechanical watches are some of the most complicated machines ever imagined. The more functions a master watchmaker can cramp into a small case, the more complicated it gets. Thus, the watch world speaks about complications.

The power of complications

There are useful and relatively common complications, like the date function. While displaying the date sounds like a simple task, it is all but trivial. Unfortunately, our calendars sometimes have 30 days in a month, and sometimes 31. As if this was not enough, one month has 28, and, every four years, 29. Simple counting does not do the trick. Therefore, some ingenious watchmakers invented the annual calendar, that takes these fluctuations of the length of a month into consideration.

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A watch that masters this nicely is the Patek Philippe Nautilus Annual Calendar Ref 5726A – which retails around US$50,000. Except for February, where the owner needs to adjust the calendar manually. To do the trick (including some other complications like a moon phase display), the watch needs 34 jewels and a total of 347 parts in its movement, much more than an ordinary wristwatch. In other words: in terms of mechanical watchmaking, this already is a very complicated task. There is a correlation between complication and price.

If you want the convenience of not having to adjust the date manually in February painfully, Patek and other high-end watchmakers offer a solution, so-called perpetual calendars. For example, The Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar Ref. 26574 in 18-carat yellow gold is a little shy of US$100,000. For the convenience of not having to correct the calendar once a year, customers pay almost double.

Welcome to the elusive world of luxury. In most “normal” product categories, one would argue that the inability of a function to be performed seamlessly and repeatedly would be a product failure and, hence, a brand would have to correct it. In luxury, the first correction, not having to adjust the date in a month that has 30 days, is a sought after “complication” worth a premium; and the second correction, displaying February right, doubles the price again. This is remarkable. And it shows that in luxury, the rules are different. To “correct” a shortcoming, consumers pay (dramatically) more, although the practical utility is limited.

Among complications, one stands above all

And this brings us to the pinnacle of complications. The complication that makes some watches break the million-dollar barrier. To many, it is the most mysterious, most beautiful, and most desirable of all complications. A complication that has surprisingly little functional value. But it is a head-turner, a conversation starter, and one of the rarest complications in watchmaking. In fact, it is so rare that most people never saw one in person. It is the tourbillon.

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It is based on a genius idea. The idea of a tourbillon is to increase the precision of a mechanical watch by neutralising the effects of gravity and movements. Today, more than 200 years since its invention, still very few companies can produce and service a tourbillon due to its very delicate and expensive set-up.

To many experts and enthusiasts, a tourbillon is considered to be the most difficult mechanism ever developed in a watch. In other words, it is the most complicated complication. So complicated, that many owners refuse to wear their tourbillon watch in fear of harming the delicate mechanism. This explains why only a very few tourbillons have ever been built: they are rarely found in watches below US$30,000. They have become an essential feature for watches above US$250,000 and almost a standard for the most exquisite million-dollar timepieces.

Servicing a tourbillon every couple of years can set you back the equivalent of a car, just to put things into perspective. For example, just sending a Richard Mille RM 008-V2 Tourbilon Split-Seconds Chronograph to the factory for a thorough inspection will likely cost you around US$15,000. And it is by far not the most expensive watch to service.

Why do people pay millions?

Now you should ask: why do people buy a tourbillon? Why have tourbillons become the defining feature of the most expensive watches? If you think it is precision – the original goal to defy the adverse effects of movement and gravity on the ability of a watch to tell the time precisely – then think twice. A tourbillon works best in a pocket watch because the direction and scope of movements are somewhat limited in a pocket. In contrast, a wristwatch moves permanently in all directions. Hence, not even a two-dimensional tourbillon can balance the three-dimensional movements by mechanical means.

If you’re truly concerned about knowing the time precisely, you should buy an Apple watch, which in its most luxurious version, by Hermès, will cost you only around US$1,600, a rounding error of the price point of a tourbillon watch. Even a quartz movement is more precise than any tourbillon watch, a technology that makes watch enthusiasts feeling somewhat sedated. In other words: it is not precision that drives the price.

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This complication is difficult – and therefore very valuable

Tourbillons do three things well. First, they let us dream – dream of a future, where obstacles can be removed and where perfection can be achieved. Nothing is more powerful than a dream. Second, they are a celebration of frivolous, unhinged, unapologetic beauty. Watching a tourbillon do its work is like admiring a piece of art. Getting lost in a moment, and while getting lost, feeling the absolute presence. Third, they remind us that not everything in life needs to follow a function and that not everything needs to make sense. This gives almost a spiritual note to a watch. And finally, they are difficult.

Difficulty is one of the fascinating concepts of luxury. It’s not yet well understood, but there are indicators and hypotheses that difficulty is one of the biggest hidden value drivers of luxury. In other words, the more difficult something is, the more it has value to people. This taps into our deepest motivations. To prove that we are able to master a difficult task, able to take care of something fragile, and able to have enough expertise to appreciate it.

The tourbillon is a symbol of all of this. Functionally useless, yet beautifully crafted, available to very few, and emotionally enticing. It is the ultimate inspiration, the pinnacle of mastering complexity challenging human capabilities to the maximum. Finally, it creates the most extreme value. Prices of up to several million dollars reflect it.

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