re: Watch Nerds. Glaschuttes Original?

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That peek-a-boo balance wheel is pretty interesting. I don't get out much, but I haven't seen that before.

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A tourbillon does contain the balance wheel but it is a lot more than that and is quite a little feat of engineering. It was designed to offset the effects of gravity but in wrist watches it is just a flex. With pcoket watches they spent most of their time in one position but a wrist watch is being moved all the time so it is less important if important at all. Up until maybe ten years ago it was a complication reserved for watches in the upper 5 figures an above. Now you can get a Swiss tourbillon under $20k and some Chinese versions for under $1k but you have to consider them disposable because even if someone can service them the cost of service would be more than the cost of a new one by a good bit.

Here is a gif of a tourbillon in action, as you can see the entire balance and escapement rotates once a minute (some rotate every 30 seconds).



There are some variations of tourbillons that are even more complex like the JLC Gyrotourbillon which rotates on two different axis simultaneously.




You can find lots of watches often called open hearts where you can see the standard balance assembly through the dial. These can be found under $500 easily from reputable manufacturers since they are nothing but a dressed hole in the dial to expose the balance and escapement. They don't have much visual appeal IMO since you see nothing but the blurred running of the balance wheel and it kinda obscures the escapement.