As a successor to Bugatti’s Chiron, the high-end French automaker has created another ridiculously fast and expensive hypercar.
The Bugatti Tourbillon derives its name not from the automotive field but from one of the most complex mechanisms in watchmaking: the tourbillon.
Patented by Breguet on June 26, 1801 tourbillon is a French word that means “whirlwind.” Designed to minimize the difference between positions caused by poise errors, a tourbillon is a rotating (mobile carriage) cage that houses a timepiece’s regulating assortment (balance wheel, balance spring, pallet fork, escape wheel). By rotating the entire regulating assortment, the tourbillon cage eliminates or reduces rate errors due to the earth’s gravitational forces, increasing timekeeping precision.
While there’s no actual tourbillon in the car, Bugatti worked with Swiss mechanical movement manufacture Concepto to develop a unique fully mechanical instrument cluster. In the past, Jaeger and Heuer (now Jaeger-LeCoultre and TAG Heuer), used to make gauge clusters for automobiles, so this is not the first time a mechanical watchmaker has done this, however, this gauge cluster is far more advanced than any previous automotive mechanical gauges.
Made up of the speedometer in the center, a tachometer on the right, and power and temperature gauges on the left (fuel, battery, and temperature gauges for each) — the fully mechanical instrument panel has visible bridges and jewels like with a timepiece, weighs just 700 grams — and is directly linked the car’s motors.
The 2026 Bugatti Tourbillon has an 8.3 liter V16 hybrid engine — with 1,000 hp coming from the gasoline engine and 800 hp coming from three electric motors — developed by Cosworth that delivers a 0-60 time of two seconds and a top speed of 276 MPH. The Tourbillon will be produced in a limited edition of 250 cars for a retail price of $4.1 million.
In recent years, Bugatti has worked with Parmigiani Fleurier and Jacob & Co. to create intricate car-inspired timepieces. Last year, Rolls Royce introduced the Amethyst Droptail with an Armillary Tourbillon dashboard clock built by Vacheron Constantin, which has an actual tourbillon that tells the time in the most luxurious way possible, where the Bugatti, the mechanics are linked directly to the car and doesn’t tell the time at all.
It makes you wonder why Bugatti chose to use the tourbillon moniker. Perhaps it has to do with the translation of “tourbillon” which as mentioned above, means whirlwind, which can be defined as “very energetic” — which a 1,800 horsepower hypercar powered by four motors is.
Learn more at Bugatti.
Photos by Bugatti.
