Peacock’s Tai Chi Curved Guilloché Puts a Tiny Triple-Axis Tourbillon at Centre Stage

Peacock is making an unusually ambitious statement ahead of its 70th anniversary, and it isn’t doing it with a nostalgic reissue.

The Liaoning watchmaker’s Tai Chi Curved Guilloché Triple-Axis Tourbillon is a high-complication piece built around miniaturisation, hand craft and a distinctly Chinese visual language.

Its headline act is an 8.0mm, 0.436-gram triple-axis tourbillon that Peacock describes as the smallest and lightest assembly of its type.

At a glance

A Chinese high complication with no vintage safety net

Founded in 1957, Peacock has long been part of China’s industrial watchmaking landscape, but this release sits far from the practical automatic movements and familiar chronograph architectures often associated with the country’s volume production.

The Tai Chi Curved Guilloché is a deliberate move into the territory usually occupied by specialist independent watchmakers and elite Swiss manufactures.

A triple-axis tourbillon is rare because it adds weight, friction and energy demand at exactly the point where a movement can least afford inefficiency.

Peacock’s answer is to reduce the regulator as aggressively as possible, using titanium cages and a compact spherical architecture to keep the mechanism both small and light.

The curved Tai Chi dial is more than decoration

The dial is built around a convex guilloché plate rather than a flat disc, which makes the decorative work much more demanding.

Its Tai Chi motif is formed from 40 spiral V-grooves across a three-dimensional surface, with each groove requiring 10 manual cutting passes.

The Yin and Yang halves are separately engraved, finished and hand-matted before being interlocked, giving the dial a sculptural quality rather than a printed or applied graphic effect.

Because the triple-axis tourbillon occupies the centre, time is read on two concentric titanium discs.

The outer disc carries the hours in a modernised take on traditional Chinese clerical script, while the minutes are shown with Arabic numerals.

A white diamond at 12 o’clock marks the hours, and a black diamond at 6 o’clock serves as the minute pointer.

The triple-axis tourbillon at the centre

The central tourbillon cage measures 8.0mm across and weighs 0.436 grams, despite being assembled from 81 components including eight structural bridges.

Its three axes rotate at different rates of 60 seconds, 15 seconds and 50 seconds, creating the constantly shifting motion expected from a multi-axis regulator.

The hand-wound Peacock PAX9616 movement runs at 21,600 vibrations per hour and offers a 48-hour power reserve, a useful figure given the energy demands of the construction.

It’s also a reminder that the achievement here isn’t only visual drama, but the management of mass and power in a regulator that is intrinsically more complex than a conventional tourbillon.

White gold case and anniversary availability

The watch uses a lugless 18k white gold case measuring 43.5mm in diameter and 14.95mm thick.

That height is partly dictated by the spherical rotation of the tourbillon and the high-domed sapphire crystal, while the absence of lugs should help the case sit more compactly on the wrist.

The finishing combines a mirror-polished bezel with circular-brushed flanks, and the white gold caseback carries guilloché work that echoes the dial.

Water resistance is rated to 50 metres, and the watch is fitted to an integrated black rubber strap with a pin buckle.

Production is limited to 70 pieces worldwide to mark Peacock’s approaching 70th anniversary.

Pre-orders are open with a 30% deposit, and deliveries are expected on June 30, 2027.

Details & Specifications

For collectors who have been watching Chinese watchmaking move steadily upmarket, the Tai Chi Curved Guilloché is less a curiosity than a clear marker of intent.

It’s expensive, technically assertive and visually specific, which is exactly what makes it interesting in a category that rarely rewards half measures.