F.P Journe

On every Francois Paul Journe timepiece is the French phrase Invenit et Fecit or “invented and made.” In the case of Journe, it really is the literal truth. As a collector, I had always known and recognized Journe as one of the finest small boutique watch manufactures in the world. My first Journe was the Chronometre a Resonance, an incredibly cool watch with two time zones with the mechanical watchmaking magic of natural resonance…….as I understand it (and I’ll do my best to explain it), a complication where the naturally occurring time disparity of one time zone counter balances and corrects the other. This was also the first watch I’d ever owned where the winding crown was between the lugs. The difficulty in winding the watch was totally offset by the “cool factor” of owning a watch with this complication and the winder at 12 o clock. While this is only one of the many rare and different complications that F.P. Journe creates, it might be my favorite. But to be fair, the others masterpieces deserve mention (and serious respect) would include the Octo Calendier, Tourbillon Souverain, Sonnerie Souveraine and Journe has the Grand Prix d’Horologerie (think of the Oscars for Watchmaking) to prove it.