Thirty-eight of the sets were made to commemorate the end of the 38mm case size, (very much the choice of the original purist) and this was the first time that any Journe dress watch (excluding a grande or petite sonnerie chiming watch), was made available in steel. Four of the five pieces, apart from the Chronomètre Souverain, in the collection have been discontinued. Moreover, the original version of the
Tourbillon Souverain had never been made with a gold movement.
This example, the Chronomètre Souverain, is quintessentially an F.P Journe in both its design language and movement. Housed in a classical 38mm dress watch case, it is made distinctive by F.P. Journe’s signature ‘flat crown’ with a rope-like pattern. The silver and yellow dial is engine turned in the centre with a hobnail, Clous de Paris pattern, while the outer track holds the blue, embossed decorative Arabic numerals. The signature F.P. Journe style hands form a nice contrast to the dial. Between seven and eight o’clock is a subsidiary seconds and at three o’clock is a power reserve indicator of 56 hours. Overall, the dial layout is cleanly designed and excellently legible.
An interesting aspect of this timepiece lies in the power reserve, as when winding, instead of the indicator heading from 0-56, it goes the other way towards 0. This was deliberate by F.P. Journe, who borrowed this from marine chronometer clocks. The reasoning behind this lies in the idea that the power reserve indicator on this Chronomètre Souverain is not meant to tell you how many hours there are left, but instead how many hours have passed since you wounded the watch.
While this piece is undeniably attractive, it is the movement that F.P. Journe is famed for. It is certainly independent haute horlogerie at its finest, as the in house, Calibre 1304 is made entirely of 18-carat rose gold, seen through the sapphire caseback. The movement has two mainspring barrels in parallel, which work together, powering the movement. Most impressively, is the chronometric balance fitted into the movement, which helps to provide the accuracy that F.P. Journe has based his watchmaking around. The hand finishing is expertly conducted, mixing a combination of circular graining with sunburst and wave patterns. All screw heads are polished and all edges neatly chamfered with a Côte de Genève motif on the bridges.
In 2005, this watch won the ‘Favourite Men’s Watch’ award the GPHG (Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève), the most prestigious award ceremony in the watch industry.
This watch comes with a black F.P. Journe alligator strap and stainless steel deployant buckle.
A Collected Man is delighted to be able to offer a rare opportunity to acquire a truly iconic, collectors’ piece. We leave the final word to F.P. Journe, who on their website state “it is extremely rare for luxury watches to be cased in steel. There are very few such watches, and they reach much higher prices at auction than the same models in precious metals. This set is intended for true collectors, those who know what is rare. The combination of 18-carat rose-gold movements with 38 mm steel cases makes this set the rarest of all F.P. Journe’s collections.”
Other watches from the set, including the
Octa Automatique, the
Octa Calendrier, the
Tourbillon Souverain and the
Chronomètre à Résonance are available in our collection of
F. P. Journe watches.
Viewings are available at our office in central London, by appointment only.
