T-30 Tourbillon, Journe's tribute to his very first unique timepiece
In 1983, François-Paul Journe completed his first creation, a chronometer and tourbillon pocket watch. Thirty years later, this superb watchmaker has paid tribute to that first timepiece with the T-30 wristwatch. A tourbillon, no less…
By Joel Grandjean
Editor-in-Chief
At the tender age of 20, François-Paul Journe decided to create his very own tourbillon chronometer. As a kid, he had left his native Marseille to go to Paris to pursue his studies in watchmaking and work with his uncle Michel, a renowned clock and watch restorer.
In 1977, as a young apprentice, Journe became fascinated by the tourbillon, a complication invented in the 19th century by Abraham-Louis Breguet and revered subject at his school. The English master watchmaker, George Daniels – who would eventually become friends with Journe – was the only one still making tourbillons, and then only sparingly.
From tourbillon pocket watches to the birth of a brand
Journe's unclegranted him permission to use his workshop outside business hours. Journe recalls the making of his unique first tourbillon, which would mark the beginning of his career. “I finished it in early 1983 and it was signed F. P. Journe Paris," he recalls. "Each and every piece, including the gold and silver case, was hand-made by me.” But this pocket watch was only the first in a series of outstanding timepieces that laid the foundation of the "Journe Legend". Indeed, in his own workshop on rue de Verneuil, Journe created original and mysterious-looking clocks, a planetarium, an astronomical chronometer and various subtle and complex mechanisms intended for rare pieces. These extraordinary horological objects earned him several prizes and builot up a fame that went beyond France's borders.
In fact, that reputation reached the very rarified sphere of world collectors who, in a spirit of competition, would guard the secret of their status jealously until their own reputation preceded them and, in spite of themselves, made them known to a wider circle of people.
Journe established his independent haute horlogerie manufactory in 1999. By hen he had become a member of the Académie horlogère des créateurs indépendants (AHCI), after having worked for a while in an atelier in Carouge.In record time his name rose to become one of the most influential brands. This brings to mind a revelation made to me in 1998 by Jean-Claude Nicolet from La Chaux-de-Fonds. Once a distinguished horology teacher, he was considered "le dernier des grands orlogeurs" (the last remaining watchmaking master) by his peers before retiring from his workshop in the ruelle de l'Aurore. In a surge of awed affection, the first-ever winner of the "Gaïa Prize" declared: “François-Paul is the watchmaking genius of the 21st century!” Nicolet is a widely acknowledged, candid and creative spirit, whom, somewhat belatedly, George Daniel considered one of the greatest tourbillon specialists ever, which does give his statement some keen prophetic value.
The FP Journe T-30 Tourbillon Historique, 99 times
It was only natural that on the occasion of his 30th anniversary in watchmaking, François-Paul Journe should produce something that is both a novelty and a tribute: 99 copies of a new timepiece manufactured with the same materials he used back in 1983. Two 4N pink gold bezels enhance a silver case whose guilloché is a genuine rite of passage. The tourbillon is only visible through the sapphire case back and not on the dial, which is of exquisite sobriety and has served to inspire many other major brands. There is not an iota of any other material in this complication barring the one that exalts the watchmaker, brass. Furthermore, the tourbillon is of classic design. It rotates in one minute and has all the traits of the one completed 30 years ago, notably with the two parallel spring barrels that deliver energy to a gear train fitted onto the axis of the watch to drive the tourbillon. This tourbillon differs from the 2013 version due to its lateral escapement anchor, which is better adapted to a wristwatch than the original detent escapement.
The FP JourneT-30 premiered in Japan on 18 October 2013, the mere announcement of its public release whetting the appetite of the great collectors. The watch features the hand-wound Calibre 1412 with the epitome of Calvinist discretion visible in the blued Breguet hands and the hand-beveling. This watch is a glorious milestone on the path of an extraordinary person. It also reminds us that Journe is a master of functional aesthetics. His Swiss-Genevan proximity could make us almost forget that he is undisputedly one of the greatest minds in top-notch contemporary mechanical watchmaking.
