Short answer

A fake Breguet tourbillon minute repeater can run a real tourbillon. It cannot strike a true minute repeater chime at most price points. A genuine minute repeater uses a rack, a snail cam, two hammers and two gongs. That assembly holds 200 or more parts. Copies under $1,500 skip the rack and the gongs in most cases. Some use a quartz speaker that plays a recording. Some use a lever that pushes a hammer against a solid caseback with no gong inside.

What the real Breguet reference does

Abraham-Louis Breguet patented the tourbillon in 1801. The Breguet Tradition Répétition Minutes Tourbillon 7087 arrived in 2015. It uses caliber 565DR, 508 parts, and two gongs. The tourbillon sits at 6 o'clock on a rotating plate. The 7087 case measures about 44 mm in rose gold or platinum. Retail price sits above $400,000. Breguet No. 160, the Marie-Antoinette watch, also carries a minute repeater. It was finished in 1827, 34 years after the order.

What shows up in a replica

  • Real tourbillon: Seagull ST8000 and Hangzhou 2 series movements turn a cage once per minute. Beat rate 21,600 vph. Power reserve 40 to 60 hours.
  • Fake tourbillon: an open aperture with a spinning disc. No cage, no balance wheel inside.
  • Chime: most copies have no gong. Test by ear. A slide that makes no sound is decoration.
  • Quartz chime: a small speaker plays one tone. Tempo and pitch do not change.

Points to inspect

  1. Slide the repeater lever. Count the strikes: hours, then quarters, then minutes.
  2. Listen to the tone. A steel gong rings. A speaker beeps flat.
  3. Measure the case against the reference. The 7087 runs about 44 mm.
  4. Look at the tourbillon cage under a loupe. Find the balance wheel inside the cage.
  5. Weigh the case. Gold copies use plated steel. Density differs from solid gold.

Legal note

US law bans counterfeit watch sales. 18 U.S.C. 2320 covers trafficking in counterfeit goods. Customs can seize a shipment at the border. Personal use carries lower risk than resale. Import of the item stays illegal in either case.

Unknown: the exact factory that builds any single listing. Sellers change suppliers. Ask for movement photos with the caseback removed before payment.