FP Journe is a watch maker with exceptional qualities. Already at the age of twenty, in the midst of the Quartz Crisis, not being able to afford to buy one personally, Francois Paul Journe he had handcrafted his first tourbillon. In the following years, FP Journe builds unique pieces for individual clients. In 1999, FP Journe he delivered his first watches to customers who financed the start of his business with a pre-purchase at 50% discount.
Since then, the brand FP Journe has not stopped growing. Today it produces around 800 watches a year, but always according to the founder's philosophy, written on each of the pieces that leave the Geneva factory: invented and made, that is, he invented and did. The purpose of production FP Journe is to implement, on a small scale, the ideas that its founder previously implemented in the individual examples of his production.
Thanks to the collaboration of AFAD SrL, a Veronese jeweler active for decades in the luxury sector, Chronosect he was able to closely observe how a watch is made FP Journe. In particular, the model we were able to admire is the FP Journe Remontoir d'Egalité.
What is a Remontoir
Il Winder is one of the many answers given by the art of watchmaking to the question "how is it possible to make a watch more and more precise?"
How does this stratagem differ from the many others devised by the genius of watchmakers? In its conceptual simplicity. A watch regulates its speed thanks to a balance wheel, located at the end of the gear train that draws power from the barrel. The balance wheel brakes the movement of the gears, which without it would rotate wildly, exhausting the energy of the barrel spring in just a few moments.
The flaw of this system is the high dispersion of energy that inevitably occurs on the way from the barrel to the balance wheel. This friction prevents the barbell from delivering constant force. Here comes the help Remontoir: a reserve of energy near the balance wheel, which is wound at regular intervals by the main mainspring and which helps in providing a constant supply of torque to the balance wheel itself.
This is an ancient technology, already present in some medieval tower clock mechanisms in order to counteract the action of the winds on the external hands, but applying it to a wristwatch requires skill and inventiveness. Qualities that are certainly not lacking FP Journe.
The Remontoir d'Egalité by FP Journe
Il FP Journe Remontoir d'Egalité It presents itself with elegant and sinuous, almost organic shapes: a common stylistic feature in production FP Journe, but which always has a pleasant effect. The characteristic crown with knurling, reminiscent of a rolled hawser, the sub-dial with time indication moved to the right to make it easier to read the time when the watch is worn under the shirt cuff, the power reserve indication at 42 hours, immediately identify this timepiece as one of the pieces that FP Journe "invenit et fecet”. Even the two technical characteristics that distinguish this watch, the Winder and Tourbillon, they are placed in sight, to be admired by enthusiasts and connoisseurs who will hold this timepiece in their hands.
Of enthusiasts who will hold this in their hands FP Journe there won't be many: as per the tradition of maison, it is a limited edition. The only two hundred pieces available in the world are a natural consequence of the production method of FP Journe.
The Tourbillon Souverain with Remontoir: an exceptional watch
It's not just the rarity of the timepiece that makes it special. This watch is the first in the world to be equipped with Whirlwind coupled with Remontoir: also for this reason it was called "FP Journe Tourbillon Souverain“. To indicate the extraordinary and exceptional nature of such a watch.
Chronosect thanks, on behalf of himself and his fans, AFAD SrL for having made available to her the magnificent specimen that we were able to tell you about today.
