Purnell Watches

Purnell: All Tourbillon, All the Time — and That Time Is Fast

Purnell doesn’t do subtle.
 They don’t make three-handers. They don’t make tool watches. They barely make watches you could call “daily wear.”
 What they do is tourbillons. Massive, fast-spinning, visually ridiculous tourbillons — designed to turn your wrist into a gravity-defying performance piece.

This is horology as high-speed theater, backed by serious technical firepower and zero regard for understatement.

Brand History: Fast Rise, Fast Rotors

Purnell was founded in 2006 by Jonathan Purnell, but the brand didn’t make waves until the 2010s, when it began working with master watchmaker Eric Coudray — best known for inventing the Gyrotourbillon at Jaeger-LeCoultre.

With Coudray’s help, Purnell launched the Spherion, a multi-axis tourbillon system spinning faster than anything else on the market — housed in watches like the Escape Primo and Escape II.

Their mission?

“More Future Than Past” — and it shows.

This isn’t nostalgia-driven watchmaking. It’s modern art powered by mechanical aggression.

Collector Highlights: Tourbillons on Tourbillons

  • Escape Primo – Purnell’s signature. Single Spherion tourbillon (three axes, 8-second outer rotation), full sapphire case, power reserve, and movement visibility from every angle.

  • Escape II – Double Spherion tourbillons. Twice the insanity. Bridged by a central differential. The kind of watch that looks like it should levitate.

  • Escape II Absolute Sapphire – Full sapphire case and bridges, twin Spherions, and movement architecture that feels like it belongs in a science fiction museum.

  • Escape II All Black / Bicolor / Titanium – Material and color experiments built around the same tourbillon engine. Less about variety, more about vibe.

  • Collaboration Models (e.g., with Paolo Macchiarini) – Skeletonized works of kinetic art, often produced in single digits, with high-end hand-finishing.

Powering it all? The Caliber CP03 and CP03.1, co-developed with Coudray — arguably the fastest triple-axis tourbillon on the market, and certainly one of the most visually mesmerizing.

Why Collectors Should Care

  • No one else builds like this — Purnell isn’t mimicking; they’re pioneering

  • Real haute horology cred — thanks to Eric Coudray’s genius

  • The fastest triple-axis tourbillon in production

  • Ultra-limited production — often fewer than 50 pieces per year

  • Tourbillon lovers' holy grail — especially for collectors already deep into Greubel Forsey, MB&F, and De Bethune

  • No quartz. No fluff. Just mechanical performance art.

Let’s be honest — most tourbillons are marketing pieces. Purnell’s are mechanical flexes with the receipts.

What They’re Making Now: Tourbillon Maximalism, Refined

Everything Purnell does today revolves around the Spherion tourbillon platform — but with:

  • New materials — sapphire, titanium, carbon, and black DLC

  • Bolder colorways and skeletonizations

  • New case shapes and profiles

  • Even faster and more complex architecture on the drawing board

There’s no entry-level model. No budget-friendly compromise.
 This is ultra-haute horology, pure and simple.

Expect prices starting north of $300K and climbing quickly based on materials, complications, and edition size.

Fed’s Take

Purnell is what happens when you give a tourbillon guy a blank check and zero restraint.

It’s not my daily driver. It’s not even my once-a-week flex. But I’ve handled the Escape Primo in sapphire — and I’ll be damned if it wasn’t the most jaw-dropping mechanical object I’ve seen in years.

These aren’t watches. They’re moving sculptures, built to test the limits of what mechanical watchmaking can do for the eye, not just for the wrist.

If you’re deep into independent haute horology — or just want something that makes a Richard Mille look modest — Purnell is in a category of its own.

Mechanical Madness, Executed Brilliantly

If you want a watch that’s more kinetic sculpture than wristwear — one that turns motion into an art form — Purnell is your brand. Just don’t expect it to hide under a cuff.

Delray Watch occasionally sources Purnell watches — especially Escape Primo and twin Spherion models.

Be the first to know when new Purnell watches are available - subscribe for insider access here