F.P. Journe

A fine, extremely attractive and rare limited-edition complicated wristwatch of the Swiss watch brand F. P. Journe, founded in 1999 by the French watchmaker François-Paul Journe. Date of purchase: 2006. Case in 18k rose gold, diameter 40mm, thickness 9.1mm, black mother of pearl dial, silver subdials with clous de Paris guilloché pattern, fine circular grooves and slim metal screw-fixed frames. Sapphire caseback. Slim manual-wound caliber 1499.2 with mainplate and bridges in solid 18k rose gold, twin independent movement coupled with aerodynamic resonance system. Power reserve up to 40 hours. Functions – hours, minutes and small seconds hands for local and zone time, power reserve indicator, synchronization function for seconds hands when the crown at 12 o’clock is pulled out. Brown leather strap with F. P. Journe buckle in 18k rose gold. Limited edition of 10 pieces for Sincere Fine Watches (Singapore). 

François-Paul Journe is one of the few watchmakers to have developed a wristwatch with a twin movement and resonance effect. Resonance is a physical phenomenon of interaction between two independent systems, which are characterized by oscillations with close frequencies. With a strong resonance, both systems begin to operate at the same frequency, that is, in relation to timepiece mechanisms, the two mechanisms begin to move synchronously. Mechanical resonance in clocks was discovered in the 17th century by the famous Dutch scientist Christian Huygens, before the French watchmaker Antide Janvier was able to apply this effect for the first time in a pendulum clock in 1780, with Abraham-Louis Breguet implementing it in a pocket watch in 1814. François-Paul Journe began experimenting with resonance in his early pocket watch in 1983, however, success in applying this physical phenomenon came later, when he undertook the development of the Chronomètre à Résonance wristwatch in the late 1990s. His resonance caliber uses the aerodynamic interaction of the balances of the twin mechanism. Currently, this is the only brand to offer serial production of wristwatches with an aerodynamic resonance system. 

Production of the Chronomètre à Résonance watch began in 2000. The watch featured the caliber 1499 (1st generation) with a rhodium-plated brass mainplate and bridges, the first wristwatch caliber utilizing the aerodynamic resonance phenomenon. In 2004, F. P. Journe started production of the 2nd generation caliber 1499.2, with the mainplate and bridges in solid 18k pink gold, as in the present lot. Later, in 2010, the caliber 1499.2 was replaced by the 1499.3 version in solid gold and with a newly-introduced 24-hour zone time digital indication system. Caliber 1499.3 was discontinued in 2020.