I have been thinking about a closely related topic recently, maybe it adds to the discussion. I agree that my own enjoyment also is tied to watches being little machines (as opposed to: jewelery or adornment, which I abhor, guess I have not integrated my feminine side enough. But I digress). I think that if you look at watches from this angle, there are two lines you can discern.
- watches that are excellent machines.
This leads you down a road that culminates in the satori of the perfect gentlemen's watch:
something like JLC Master Control -> Richard Lange -> Dufour Simplicity
or you become interested in the mechanical implementation of interesting features: flyback, rattrappante, tourbillon, etc. and then I guess the grail would be a grand complication of some sort. Or maybe the poetic astronomical watches of Oechslin. Those views can clash in interesting ways, for example in the debate on tourbillons: are they fantastic feats of watchmaking or do they lessen the excellence of the watch because they do not accomplish better timekeeping as they were intended to? Is the MIH watch a fantastic machine because it has an annual calendar with the minimal number of parts wedded to a robust general production tractor or is it a bit disappointing to have so few parts and little finish?
- Secondly however, there are some watches that are *about* being machines.
I noticed this with the Breguet La Tradition. To me, it is not just an open movement, but it was designed to make a statement about the company, the man, the history of his works, and I think about watchmaking in general. That level of self-reference turns it into an artwork for me. The Freak is of course another and maybe the first example. Some of the "steampunk" watches fall in here too, Vianney Halter for example.
The person who manages to have it both is Journe for me. The Resonance is what epitomizes it best, being a brilliant and innovative machine that optimizes timekeeping but at the same time demonstrates a fundamental principle of watchmaking, of physics, and sometimes I even think of ethics (that one is probably over the top.). Anyway, I want one very badly but that tourbillon you showed also breaks my heart. Even the Chronometre Souverain is a brilliant timekeeper but it has a bunch of self-referential "easter eggs" that you only get once you figure out how things normally look.
Not sure this all makes sense but your post clearly resonated with me!
Thanks
Andreas