The Latest Bugatti Tourbillon Is Inside This £177k Clock

Did you know the Bugatti Tourbillon is named after a piece of timekeeping equipment? We don’t really understand how they work, but a tourbillon is basically a complex mechanism found in some fancy mechanical watches that aids accuracy.

Bugatti naming its new V16 hybrid ultra-car after one, then, has inevitably opened the door for some tie-in timepieces. Things like this, a table clock designed in collaboration between Bugatti, high-end watchmaker Jacob & Co. and French glass manufacturer Lalique.

Now, far be it from us to question the interior design choices of the ultra-wealthy when our living spaces are just filled with automotive tat and sim racing gear, but… hoo boy. What was that thing about money not buying taste?

Called the Calandre, it features a Lalique crystal case featuring a pair of dancing elephants. Not a reference to fast Lancias, but a tribute to Rembrandt Bugatti, company founder Ettore’s brother and a sculptor known for his bronze wildlife pieces.

The clock face itself is modelled after Bugatti’s signature horseshoe grille, a shape that doesn’t exactly lend itself to, well, being used as a clock. But presumably, if you do own one of these, it’ll be purely decorative as you’ll already have a member of staff on hand to tell you what time it is.

And yes, this clock has a tourbillon. We still don’t entirely know what this is, but it’s in there somewhere, behind that grille.

Should you be looking at an empty space on the fine Carrara marble mantelpiece in one of your several living rooms and thinking how nicely this clock would fill it, you’ll have to act quickly – only 99 are being made. The price? $240,000, or around £177,000. That’s a Porsche 911 GT3 with a few nice options thrown at it, and last time we checked, the Porsche comes with a clock as standard.